It Goes On
by alb925
Summary: Lilah Fitzgerald has seen her share of endings and they haven't necessarily been happy. No matter how impossible it may seem, she promises to protect herself from being a victim of any more. It turns out she has a lot to learn about how life works, but luckily someone comes along who, while they can't change her story's beginning, may be able to do something about the ending.
1. Chapter 1

_"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."  
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_-_**Robert Frost**

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><p>I'm sure the phrase <em>You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone<em> is a phrase that both Muggles and wizards are familiar with. I know I grew up hearing it quite a bit, but never thought much of it until my eleventh birthday. That's when things began to really change and put that saying into perspective.

I know that every witch and wizard associates the age of eleven with getting their Hogwarts letters. I used to do that, too, until my eleventh birthday actually came, that is. I turned eleven on October 31st, 1988. Obviously, the September 1st deadline had already passed and I hadn't been eleven on time like all of the other kids born before the first of September. That meant that I would get my Hogwarts letter the following summer and go to Hogwarts the September after that. And, yes, my birthday does fall on Halloween. People love to point that out to me for some reason. As if I don't already know.

Anyway, my eleventh birthday started out normally enough. I was sitting at our very long, very shiny dining room table with my eight year old brother Julian. We were just wrapping up our lessons with Miss Sullivan, our tutor.

You see, magical children don't officially start school until age eleven, and even then, they're just learning how to control and improve their magic. While we don't need _all_ the skills Muggle children go to school for, we do need some. We need to learn how to read and write and do some basic math. My mum hired Miss Sullivan two years ago when I was about to turn nine and Julian was six. She worked with me alone until this fall when Julian was finally old enough to join us. By then we actually already knew how to read and write, thanks to Dad, but we still needed to learn math and apparently some grammar stuff and writing mechanics.

I never saw why my dad couldn't just do all of it. He had successfully taught two children how to read and write after all. But I guess my mother didn't think he could efficiently teach us everything else. She probably felt more secure in hiring an actual teacher for that. So, she hired Miss Sullivan to come to our house five days a week for a few hours a day, because my mother herself certainly didn't have time to teach us.

My mother works at a wizarding book publishing company. She's very driven and also very good at her job, which has resulted in quite a few promotions over the years. She likes everything to be just so and she likes everything to be perfect.

My dad, on the other hand, is more laid back. He also has a very different career. You see, my dad's best friend, Jesse—Uncle Jesse to me and Julian—is a Muggleborn. He and my dad have been friends since they first met on the Hogwarts Express at age eleven and my dad learned a lot about Muggles through Uncle Jesse. Also, if there's one thing you should know about my dad it's that he's loved to make people laugh for as long as he's lived. He positively lives off of it. Before he became friends with Uncle Jesse, my dad didn't really have any friends. He also didn't have any siblings like Julian and I at least have each other. Needless to say, my dad was lonely. To amuse himself, he would invent all these crazy voices and work on making them as funny as possible. He would also mimic any interesting voice he heard and became quite good at doing that as well.

Because the wizarding world doesn't have many job options for what my dad wanted—he couldn't really stand office work, didn't feel cut out for being a professor and didn't feel that working with plants or animals was for him—he spent most of his life unsure of what he wanted to do once he left school. But then when he and Uncle Jesse were fifteen, Uncle Jesse got an idea. He suggested my dad be a stand-up comedian. It was a Muggle job, but it was exactly the kind of thing my dad was looking for. Ever since he left Hogwarts, it's what he's been trying to do with his life, with only minimal success so far. He secured gigs and all that, but he still wasn't at the level he wanted to be at. Or the level my mother wanted him to be at, for that matter.

My mother was never really a fan of the whole comedy thing. Not as a career anyway. She thought my dad was funny and talented and he could make her laugh no matter what. But those days seemed few and far between lately. My mother always thought making a career out of jokes was foolish and she thought it was a phase for a long time. But it wasn't. The thing that annoys Mum the most is that Dad has the grades and the intelligence to get an 'amazing' and 'appropriate' job. But he loves what he does, even if he's sort of struggling, so to him, his current job _is _amazing and appropriate.

Anyway, as I was saying, Mum is too busy to teach me and Julian all we need to know prior to starting Hogwarts. She works long hours and we hardly even get to see her. Usually it's dad who's home with s all day and who spends time with us when Miss Sullivan isn't here. He even uses the time we're being tutored as time to work on material for stand-up gigs. That way, his schedule will be free to spend time with me and Julian once Miss Sullivan leaves. It was a perfect plan, really. Especially since Julian and I loved spending time with Dad. He could make us laugh just by opening his mouth. Nearly everything he said was hilarious. And sometimes when he was joking around with us or practicing a routine for us—and usually Uncle Jesse too—I'd have to ask him to do it a second time because the first time I was too preoccupied with simply watching him _go_. I don't know how else to describe it. He's a constant ball of energy, especially when he was performing. He was always moving and switching between voices, all of which were very funny. The second time he ran through a routine for me was when I had to actually try to listen to the words. Some jokes I didn't get because I wasn't old enough, but others I did and they were hilarious. Mum hated it when he practiced routines in front of us "children", but Dad said she never had to find out. Besides, I already knew that he took out anything inappropriate and simply ran those jokes by Uncle Jesse for approval. Mum was just overreacting if you ask me.

So, on this particular day—my birthday, as I've said—Julian and I were working on our math with Miss Sullivan. I hate math. The basic stuff like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division weren't so bad. Counting money—both wizard and Muggle money, which was a request from my mother. _Just in case_, she said—wasn't so bad either. But fractions, which are what we were learning now, were going to be the death of me. I just couldn't seem to understand them, no matter what I did or how much I tried.

Our time with Miss Sullivan was almost up for the day, though, and I was thankful. All I wanted to do was stop thinking about fractions and get ready to go trick-or-treating later.

Trick-or-treating had been a tradition in our family for as long as I can remember. Every year, Dad and Uncle Jesse take me, Julian and Tess, Uncle Jesse's daughter and also my best friend, trick-or-treating through our neighborhoods. This was one of the perks of Uncle Jesse living only a few streets over. Not many other kids in the area went trick-or-treating, but we didn't mind. We had fun. Also, before we left, my mother would try to make it home early from work, although she hadn't in the past few years, and we'd all eat pizza and cake and I'd open presents. All of it was part of the tradition; a tradition that I wasn't looking to break any time soon.

"Lilah Fitzgerald, where is your head today?"

Miss Sullivan's voice snapped me back to reality and I even jumped slightly in alarm as my cheeks flushed pink. Miss Sullivan wasn't exactly strict, but I still hated disappointing her. She was probably in her mid-forties and very nice and very patient. It was also obvious she wanted me and Julian to learn. I adored her and wanted to do my best for her, which was another reason why not being able to understand fractions was annoying.

"Sorry," I said, looking back down at my paper. I felt Julian lightly kick me under the table and I knew he was smirking. Part of him loved to see me get reprimanded, but that also depended on the severity of it. The more I got yelled at, the more upset he was. It was sweet, really.

Miss Sullivan sighed. "I know today is a big and exciting day for you, dear, but you still have to focus on your work."

I nodded as I stared down at the numerous math problems in front of me. All fractions. All gibberish. I sighed.

Miss Sullivan was quiet for a moment. "You know," she finally said, "considering it _is_ your birthday, I was thinking of ending your lessons a little early today."

"Yeah?" I asked, looking up in excitement. Even the prospect of ending lessons only by a few minutes was exciting. Anything to get me out of doing any more math.

She nodded and sent me a small smile. "I can see that continuing to the end of our time wouldn't be all that productive anyway."

"No, not really," I agreed cheerily as Julian and I began to pack away our things.

"I did want to give you two your last quizzes back, though," Miss Sullivan said, beginning to flip through a folder sitting on the table in front of her.

I felt myself deflate a little bit. I had been hoping Miss Sullivan would have forgotten about the quizzes. I was certain I had failed mine, just like I had failed the three math quizzes before it. And if I failed another one, Mum said she wouldn't let me go trick-or-treating or let Tess sleep over tonight. And the sleepover was a pretty big deal considering sleepovers hadn't been allowed up until now. As you've probably guessed, Mum is pretty particular about certain things, and apparently sleepovers were one of them. She always mused that she didn't know why they were even called sleepovers considering people never got any sleep, which was her biggest gripe with them. Apparently, children needed a good night's sleep. Always. It had taken a lot of convincing to get her to agree to my birthday sleepover which was why I wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of giving it up.

"Maybe we can wait until Monday," I suggested. "I mean, I wouldn't want you to waste too much time looking for them. I'm sure you're just as glad about getting out early as we are."

"I'm insulted, really," Miss Sullivan said, "but no worries. I've found them." She pulled two sheets of paper from her folder. Great.

She passed Julian's quiz to him first and he flipped it over and grinned widely. I scowled. Julian was awesome at math. Even though he got easier work because he was eight, he was still a lot better than I had been at that age. It wasn't fair. I mean, I had always been able to get by before, usually with extra help, but with fractions, well, clearly no amount of extra help could get me to understand those. Believe me, I've tried.

Miss Sullivan handed my quiz back to me then and I took a deep breath. I didn't even want to look, but I expected it was best to do it and get it over with quickly, just like ripping off a bandage.

Making my decision, I quickly flipped my paper over, looked down, and felt my heart sink. I had failed, just as I'd thought I would, but just because I had expected it didn't mean I was any less disappointed.

"Can I, um, maybe get more extra help?" I asked Miss Sullivan, my voice coming out in a whisper. "You know, and go over the problems I got wrong?"

"Perhaps on Monday," she said with a smile.

"Why not today?" I asked, mainly because I knew my mother would want me to. I still wanted the extra help, but I had no problem waiting until Monday. Part of me really wanted to go over my quiz and be able to master fractions, but another part of me just wanted to be done with lessons for the day and enjoy what I would be able to have of my birthday. Because surely trick-or-treating and the sleepover would be off.

"It's your birthday, isn't it?" Miss Sullivan asked. "Why don't you take this weekend off and enjoy your day?" She paused before continuing, surely after seeing my skeptical expression. "You work hard, Lilah, and you do put in a lot of effort. You _try_. You deserve a few days off. I'm not going to give you any homework and we can work on your fractions more on Monday. You'll understand them soon, I promise."

"How can you know that for sure?" I asked.

"Because you're a smart girl who doesn't give up," she replied.

I nodded and toyed with the corner of my quiz paper. Miss Sullivan kept saying she wanted me to enjoy my birthday, but as I said, chances were that all of my pans would be cancelled once my mother saw my quiz grade. We'd probably still have dinner, but then everyone else would go trick-or-treating without me and Tess wouldn't be able to sleep over. And I would only partly be enjoying my birthday if that happened. It would just put a damper on the whole thing.

"I'm telling you, Liles," Miss Sullivan insisted, "one day it will just click. But for now, why don't you and Julian run along and relax for a bit, okay?"

I nodded and thanked Miss Sullivan before getting up from my seat and gathering my things. Julian did the same and we walked Miss Sullivan to the front door.

"You know," Julian said, once I had shut the door behind our teacher. He nicked a piece of candy from the bowl by the front door. Mum had specifically told us it was for trick-or-treaters and to keep our hands off, but it hadn't stopped us from sneaking a few pieces here and there.

"What?" I prodded Julian as I took a piece of candy for myself. He had that look on his face as if he were lost in thought or thinking up some idea.

"Just because you got your quiz back today doesn't mean you have to tell Mum today," he said, sticking the candy into his mouth whole.

"I guess not, but isn't that really sneaky?" I asked.

"We've done plenty of sneaky things before without Mum knowing," Julian answered with a sly grin, taking a second piece of candy and dangling it in my face as he grinned even wider.

"You're corrupt for an eight year old," I giggled. But then my smile faded. "Mum knows we took a quiz recently, though. Do you think she'll ask if we got our scores back?" I knew Miss Sullivan usually talked to Mum whenever she got the chance and Julian and I always informed her about what we were learning and about any upcoming quizzes, so she was aware we had taken one recently. I just didn't know if she'd think to ask if we'd gotten them back yet.

"You could always say we didn't get them back yet," Julian shrugged. "It won't hurt. I'll even go along with you. And then you can tell her the truth on Monday so it'll all work out."

I couldn't help but giggle again. "You really are such an evil mastermind."

Julian smirked. "That's me," he said before throwing a piece of candy at me and running upstairs to his bedroom.

"Get back here!" I cried, laughing more as I picked up the fallen candy and chased after my brother, ready to pelt him with it like he had done to me. But what I didn't notice was that I had dropped my quiz in the process. It drifted down and landed on the floor right in front of the front door. And, as luck would have it, my mother actually did make it home early that day. Naturally, she walked in the door shortly after Julian and I had gone upstairs and before I could realize my mistake. And from there, everything continued to go downhill.

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><p><strong>AN: Well, it's certainly been a while, hasn't it? I didn't really intend to take such a long break from writing but that's what happened. I'm a little nervous about this story since I haven't posted in a while and I liked writing Promise of a Lifetime so much that I want this one to be just as fun. But I am really excited to get this chapter up as well because I've really missed writing.**

**So, don't be afraid to let me know what you think so far and thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

"This isn't fair," I mumbled, crossing my arms on the kitchen counter in front of me and resting my chin on my arms. I was pouting and acting like a baby and I knew it. Normally, I would have hated myself for it, but now I found myself not really caring.

What could I say? I was upset. My mother, upon finding my failed quiz in the foyer, had shouted for me to come downstairs _right this instant_. That's when I knew I was in trouble.

Just like my mother had promised, she had told me that I wouldn't be able to go trick-or-treating or have Tess sleep over that night. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. I had been prepared for this to happen, but it didn't make it any less upsetting. Going trick-or-treating was a tradition we had upheld for years. Skipping a year felt wrong. Besides, this was my last opportunity to go as it was. By next Halloween, I'd be at school. My last chance had been ruined. Perhaps it was my own fault, but then again, maybe it wasn't. I prepared for each and every quiz I took and failed anyway. It was as if my mother couldn't see that.

"Lilah, don't you think you're being a bit ridiculous?" Mum asked. She was moving around the kitchen, collecting plates, napkins and utensils for dinner. Dad had gone to Uncle Jesse's house to pick him and Tess up. Then, they were supposed to all go pick up the pizza. They were expected back any minute now.

"No," I muttered, "I don't think so." Okay, maybe I did think I was being a tiny bit ridiculous. I had a lot of things that others didn't. Food, shelter, a family. I knew how lucky I was. But even still, going trick-or-treating was a very special tradition.

It had started way back when I was a year old. Back then, both of my parents were in on taking me trick-or-treating and the three of us, plus Uncle Jesse and Tess, would go through our neighborhoods together. It was pretty much one of the only times I got to see my neighbors and a part of me wonders if my mother only let me go so we wouldn't seem totally abnormal.

I guess I should start explaining that at the beginning. I mentioned that Uncle Jesse's family were Muggles, but I didn't mention that they were very wealthy Muggles. They actually bought Uncle Jesse a house when he married his wife. And, as it turns out, Mum's family is very wealthy as well. Since my dad's family didn't have a lot of money, and my dad had only saved up enough to pay rent for the flat he was sharing with Uncle Jesse after they left school, Mum's family offered to buy them their own house. Well, more like insisted. I haven't been told all the details, but if you want my opnion, it's because they didn't want my mother living in some cramped, dingy flat. My grandparents are very stuffy people, even more so than Mum. She's picked up some of their tendencies, sure, but something tells me that she wouldn't have minded the flat as much as they did.

Anyway, Dad refused the offer at first, but like I said, my grandparents weren't really backing down. So my dad gave in, but his one condition was that the house be near Uncle Jesse's house. My grandparents weren't happy about it, and I don't think my mother was either, to be honest, but they all complied. Our house is just a few streets over from Uncle Jesse's, as I've said, and they're bot in a Muggle area. I think at first both my parents did want to live in an area where other witches and wizards lived-my mother more so than my dad-but the house is gorgeous so they took it. Besides, my dad wanted to be near his closest friend more than he wanted to live in an all magical neighborhood. Also, my parents did need somewhere to live besides the flat Dad and Uncle Jesse were sharing and at the time, both of them were struggling to get started in their careers and save up their money. As I've said, Dad really only had enough money to continue renting the flat he was in, which meant that Uncle Jesse would leave, and Mum would move in to help pay the rent, or the three of them would live together and continue to split the rent. Neither option was particularly ideal for them. And then, out of nowhere, they were offered a house of their own. A gorgeous one at that. It looked like something out of a fairy tale and the others in the neighborhood looked that way as well. My favorite part of the house has always been the curvy staircase. I always felt like I was really some kind of a princess whenever I walked down it.

Anyway, now that my parents were on their feet as far as jobs go, they were left to continue to pay the mortgage for the house. But, since my mother's job was more...steady, she was usually the one paying everything. My dad felt awful and tried to contribute and pay her back when he could, but the truth of the matter was that while he made decent money, it wasn't enough to pay the bills for the house we were in. They actually argued about it quite a bit. Even in a house the size of ours, Julian and I still somehow managed to hear every one of them.

Also, since we lived in a Muggle area, my mother was extremely paranoid about any of our neighbors finding out we weren't totally like them. There weren't many children in our neighborhood anyway, but Julian and I were never really allowed to play with what kids were there. My mother was afraid we'd let something slip in conversation, as little kids tend to do. Something along the lines of, 'my Mummy and Daddy can do magic and I will too one day'. And as we got older and neared the age of seven, interaction was definitely off limits. Mum was afraid we'd accidentally do something Muggle kids would call 'weird' and then we'd be figured out for sure. Obviously. Cue the eye rolls and the sighs.

My mother had it all figured out. She'd tell everyone that Julian and I were just very involved in certain activities and also our studies. She told people we were home schooled, which was the truth. When we eventually went to Hogwarts, if anyone asked, they would be told we were at some boarding school. Which one, I couldn't care less. I'll leave that up to Mum. She also tells people that she works from home, which is why we don't own a car. In reality, she goes to work using the Floo. Or just Apparates straight there. But she mostly uses the Floo in case someone hears the sound of her Apparating. Like I said, she figured it all out.

My dad, on the other hand, really does have a Muggle job, so that was a no-brainer. Although, I'm not sure Mum always liked him telling the truth about his job. Maybe it ruined our cookie-cutter image or something considering he wasn't exactly a famous comedian. But my dad didn't care. He talked about it with a smile on his face. Always. But not that he needed to talk about it much. Like I've said, we had next to no relationship with any of our neighbors. It was getting better now, though, at least for my parents. They loosened up a bit and started to socialize, mainly to prevent people from asking questions about why we kept so much to ourselves. I also think they realized that I was going to go to school and learn to control my magic soon and that Julian and I weren't going to accidentally tell anybody something top secret. But Julian was even worse at slipping up with magic than I was, so my mum hadn't totally loosened the reigns yet. Besides, the damage was already done. It was kind of late to make friends with any of the few kids in the neighborhood.

Essentially, Julian and I only had each other growing up, which I knew not to take for granted since my dad didn't have anyone. Like I said, both of his parents worked constantly trying to support the family so he was quite lonely, hence all the different voices he came up with and same ones that came in handy for his work now. Anyway, the bottom line is that going trick-or-treating felt like the one time Julian and I got to meet people, even if it was only briefly.

"Lilah," my mother said sternly, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was standing at the doorway, the plates, napkins and utensils stacked in her arms. "You should be grateful we're still celebrating your birthday. We could be doing nothing tonight."

I shrugged one shoulder. I knew my mother had a point. I was being a bit bratty, I supposed, but as I said, this weekend was supposed to be an important one. "I just don't want to break tradition," I finally said, choosing to trace circles on the counter instead of meeting her eyes. My mother always knew how to make me feel ashamed.

"Lilah, it's petty," Mum sighed. "Besides, you're getting a bit old for trick-or-treating, don't you think? And once you start at Hogwarts next September, you won't be going."

"Exactly! This is my last chance," I protested, irritation flaring up inside of me again. "And I'm not too old. Eleven isn't old at all. I'm still a kid."

My mother shook her head and sighed. "You'll be starting school in a year and becoming a teenager in two. I think it may actually be for the best if you started to leave childhood behind, okay?"

I scowled. It didn't sound good to me at all. It sounded terrible, actually, but arguing with my mother can be like arguing with a wall.

"Now go tell Julian to wash up for dinner. Your father will be back with the pizza any minute."

I sighed. That was my mother. Everything could be settled just as easy as that, when in reality, nothing was truly settled at all. Nevertheless, I hopped off my chair and headed upstairs to get my brother. I knocked on his bedroom door and pushed it open when I heard him tell me to come in. I plopped down into his desk chair and swiveled in a rapid circle as I let out another sigh. I will admit, I do tend to be a wee bit dramatic on some occasions. I'm totally aware of it, thank you very much.

"No luck?" Julian asked. He was sitting on his bed, writing something on a piece of paper. He had crayons scattered around him as well, but I barely noticed. I was too preoccupied with other things.

"No luck," I repeated, slowing my spinning to a stop. "She won't budge. Looks like I won't be going out tonight after all." I glanced at him. "Sorry, Jules."

He shrugged and continued to look at whatever project it was in front of him. It was probably an early start on some kind of homework, I thought, half bitterly.

"I'm sure I'll survive," Julian finally said, "but I will be lonely. Dad, Uncle Jesse and Tess are great, but I'll miss you. Dad and Uncle Jesse are adults, as fun as they are, and I'm not friends with Tess like you are. It wouldn't be the same."

I smiled. "I appreciate that, Jules. Mum thinks it's silly for me to be upset. She thinks I should be grateful I'm even able to celebrate at all. And I am. Really. It's just that trick-or-treating is important to me. I won't get to do it forever. With Hogwarts next year and everything, this is the last chance I get to do this. Maybe it is petty, and part of me feels really guilty about making such a big deal, but-"

"Liles, you're eleven years old," Julian said, finally pausing in whatever he was doing and meeting my eyes. "I think maybe you're sometimes allowed to get upset over petty things. And in some ways, it isn't petty. As you've said, it meant something to you. You look forward to it and it got taken away. You're upset. It makes sense."

I looked at him in disbelief. "So besides being devious for an eight year old, you're also incredibly insightful for your age. Interesting. And in every way better than me." I grinned to let him know I was kidding. And I was. Julian was an incredible kid, and I always found myself so average. Average, shoulder length brown hair, average hazel eyes, average height, average intelligence. The list goes on and on. I didn't think I was terrible or stupid or ugly, just not great or a genius or incredibly beautiful. But my point is that there was never any jealousy between Julian and I. I really didn't mind that he did certain things better, like think reasonably or successfully understand math.

"Don't say that," he said. "You're great, Lilah."

"Thanks, Jules. I appreciate it."

He smiled as he finished working on whatever it was that he was working on with a flourish of his crayon. He scanned it over before handing it to me. "Happy birthday, Liles," he said.

I took the piece of paper and looked down at it. It was a handmade card. Julian had written 'Happy Birthday Lilah' on the front in big letters and drawn balloons in all of my favorite colors-blue, purple and yellow. On the inside was a handwritten note that said all of the usual things you'd expect in a birthday card. _Hope your birthday's as amazing as you are_ and all that. But I knew that Julian truly meant everything he said, cliche notes or not, so the card still meant a lot. The fact that he had even made me a card himself meant a lot.

"Thank you so much," I whispered. "I love it." I stood up and crossed the room to throw my arms around him.

"Don't mention it," he said, his voice muffled by my shoulder. "I think Mum put my name on a gift downstairs, but I wanted to give you something that was more from me and not technically purchased by Mum or Dad."

"That's sweet. You really do think of everything. Thank you. Again."

"You're welcome. Again," he replied with a grin, his huge green eyes crinkling at the corners.

Just then, we heard the sound of the front door opening and the voices of my dad, Uncle Jesse and Tess filled the air. I smiled. "What do you say we go down and enjoy whatever still stands of my spectacular birthday weekend?"

"Let's do it," Julian declared.

The two of us thundered down the stairs and practically bombarded my dad, Tess and Uncle Jesse.

"What kind of pizza did you get?" Julian asked, jumping up and down as he tried to touch the pizza box.

"Doesn't matter," Dad laughed, holding the box above his head and out of Julian's reach. "Jesse, Tess and I ate it all. There's no more left. Sorry."

"No, you didn't!" Julian laughed, following Dad towards the dining room.

"So, how's it feel to be eleven years old?" Uncle Jesse asked, turning to me and ruffling my hair. "The big one-one."

I shrugged. "Fine. It feels just like being ten, though. There's no difference."

"Ah, nothing wrong with that," Uncle Jesse said with a wave of his hand. "You have to enjoy being so young."

I smiled before looking at Tess as my smile turned to a sympathetic one. "My mother said I can't go trick-or-treating tonight and she also said that the sleepover's off." I hated having to break the news to her, especially knowing that she'd be as disappointed as I was, despite how much she would act like it was fine.

"I heard," she nodded, returning the sympathetic smile. "But it's really okay. Next year we can have our own sleepover at Hogwarts."

"We might not even be in the same dorm, though," I said with a sigh.

"We'll figure out a way, then," she shrugged. Always the overly positive one in our friendship. She never failed to look on the bright side of things and could usually find something good about everything. I'm not sure how she did it. Not that I'm a negative person, either, but she could sure make me look that way, finding something good about things I was sure were hopeless.

"Don't sweat it, Liles," Uncle Jesse said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Besides, you could always introduce trick-or-treating to Hogwarts."

I snorted and actually cracked a smile. "I doubt that'll go over well. "Can you imagine two first years dressing up and going around asking for candy? We'd never live it down."

Uncle Jesse grinned and shrugged. "Or everyone will think it's great and immediately jump on the bandwagon."

"You two are so obviously related," I said with a laugh as I gestured between him and Tess. "You always look at the positive side of everything."

"And not ashamed of it," Uncle Jesse said. He smiled sadly. "Liv was the same way."

I returned the sad smile as the three of us fell quiet. Olivia-or Liv as Uncle Jesse always called her-was Uncle Jesse's wife. She had died when Tess and I were really little-only about two years old-and even though the two of us had been too young to remember her or the event of her death, I knew from my parents that Uncle Jesse had been devastated. Naturally. And I felt just as awful for Tess. It was totally unfair that she could barely even remember her mother. When we were younger, I would feel guilty about even mentioning my own mother, as if it would make Tess sad by doing so.

Just then, Julian stuck his head out of the dining room. "Hey, are you three coming or not? If you don't, the pizza really will be all gone this time!"

I laughed, and so did Tess and Uncle Jesse. "Coming, Jules," I said as we all followed him into the dining room. My mother had set the table brilliantly. I wouldn't have expected anything less actually. She had used her favorite red tablecloth and had set two candles at each end of the table. In the middle sat a vase containing a beautiful flower arrangement. It probably looked like a bit much for just pizza, but like I said, I wouldn't have expected any less from my mother. Everything had to be special and done exceptionally well. I was actually kind of honored that she considered my birthday an occasion to be so fancy for, but then again, I wondered if it was because my mother treated every event this way._  
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"Put the pizza in the kitchen," my mother was ordering my dad now. "If you set the box right on the table, it'll leave a greasy stain on the tablecloth. Besides, it'll look a lot prettier if I set it out on a plate."

"Ooh, fancy," my dad joked, throwing a wink my way as he headed into the kitchen, my mother on his heels.

Tess, Julian, Uncle Jesse and I sat down at the table as we waited for my parents to return. A few minutes later, they did, my mother carrying a plate with the pizza arranged beautifully on it. Like I said, everything had to be done right and done well, even pizza. Mum set the plate on the table as she and Dad took their own seats. There was a second or two of silence until Julian spoke.

"Can we eat now?" he asked eagerly.

My dad chuckled and my mother sighed, despite the tiny and brief smile that appeared on her face. "Go ahead," she said.

Everyone dug in right away. I had to admit that the pizza was delicious and it was nice to celebrate my birthday in some way with the people that I cared the most about. However, that didn't stop me from feeling a pang of sadness once dinner was over, the cake was cut, the gifts were opened, the dining room was cleared and Julian and Tess were leaving the room to change into their costumes. Julian was going as a scarecrow and Tess as a mouse. I had been planning to go as a cat so that Tess and I could be cat and mouse. But now it looked as if it were going to be just mouse.

I retreated to my bedroom and dumped my gifts onto my bed. Uncle Jesse and Tess had given me a few books I had been wanting to read as well as a box of Every Flavored Beans and some chocolate frogs. My parents had given me clothes. Dresses, actually. My mother had claimed that I could wear one to her Christmas party in a few months. She held the party every year and the guests consisted of her friends and co-workers, most of whom fit into both categories. On the plus side, Tess, Uncle Jesse and Uncle Jesse's parents were invited every year too.

I picked up one of my new books and the box of Every Flavored beans and collapsed onto my bed, determined to make this night fun and cozy anyway considering I wasn't going out. I was just managing to forget about my punishment when there was a knock on my bedroom door.

"Come in," I said, looking up from my book to see who had knocked.

"Hey," my dad said quietly, sticking his head into my room. "What are you up to?"

"Reading and eating candy. Essentially, I'm drowning my sorrows in a book and some sugar."

Dad smiled and I saw his eyes fall on my new dresses lying on my bed. "Do you like them?" he sked.

I nodded. "They're beauatiful. I think I will wear one to the Christmas party."

"Your mother would probably want you to hang them in your closet to they don't get wrinkled."

I shrugged and smiled. "Yeah...I'll get to it eventually. I have all night to spend up here in my room now after all."

Dad laughed and shook his head. "Julian and Tess are almost ready, and I was actually thinking...you should come with us."

I laughed. "Are you crazy?"

Dad shook his head. "No, I"m not. I'm actually quite sane and quite serious."

I let out a snort. "Mum won't let me. She still said no even when you tried to convince her."

"I was thinking we woudn't have to let your mother know," Dad said with a sheepish smile. I also knew quite well that that smile meant nothing good. But I also didn't need the smile to know he was up to no good. His words were clear enough.

"Dad, that's ridiculous," I laughed. "That would never work. Plus, I'd feel terrible the whole time. Going out wouldn't feel right."

Dad was quiet for a moment and I continued to stare at him, unable to go back to my book knowing that he hadn't responded yet. I knew him well enough to know he was looking for a loophole. I braced myself. He could be incredibly convincing when he wanted to be.

"This is your last year to go trick-or-treating, you know," he finally said. "And you had a costume picked out and everything..."

"Uncle Jesse said I could introduce trick-or-treating to Hogwarts next year," I said. It was half-hearted and my dad knew it. I could tell. But it didn't stop me from saying it anyway. As much as I wanted to go trick-or-treating, I wanted to stay out of trouble with my mother even more.

Dad laughed. "Come on, Liles, you know as well as I do that that plan wouldn't go over well. Which is why you wouldn't even try."

He was right of course. I had laughed at the idea when Uncle Jesse had first said it, just like Dad had laughed now.

"How would I get past her? She'll see the rest of you out the door and there's no way I'd even be able to slip by."

Dad shrugged. "I'm sure you can figure out the answer to that if you think a little bit. You're a smart girl, Liles." He smiled and turned to leave, pausing for a split second to turn back. "I'll meet you outside in ten minutes." With that, he patted the doorframe twice and left the room.

I frowned. In this instance I could see why my mother got irritated with my dad. He kind of just did his own thing and made up his own rules. On one hand, he was my parent and had just as much say in my punishments as my mother. Also, this punishment was a little ridiculous. Surely he was just executing his power to make his own decisions in my punishments. But we didn't have to be so sneaky about it. That's what my mother didn't like and a part of me couldn't blame her. But I did also know that my dad had gone to bat for me tonight and she had shot him down. She was disappointed in my quiz grade and I was going to be punished for it. That was that. End of story. But my dad clearly disagreed. He knew, just like Miss Sullivan knew, how hard I tried. And he wanted me to have fun on my last Halloween at home. And maybe he did have a point when he said my mother wouldn't find out. She probably did have a lot of work to do. She and I never got to do things together like we used to due to all the work she did, so why would tonight be any different? And I _did_ still really want to go trick-or-treating.

I chewed on my lip for a moment before I set my book down and jumped up from my bed. I grabbed my costume from my closet and quickly changed. I brushed my hair and slid on my headband with the attached cat ears. Then, I pulled out my costume makeup from my drawer and drew on whiskers, trying to be fast, but also draw them well. Once I was done, I inhaled and let it out before turning towards my window and sliding it open. There was a gint tree outside with a branch that just reached my window. Maybe it was a bit _too_ cliche and convenient, but it was convenient nonetheless.

And before I could get the chance to change my mind, I climbed outside onto the branch making sure to turn and shut the window behind me, before making my way towards the tree trunk and shimmying towards the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you think I'm stupid, Chris? Did you honestly think I wouldn't notice? Honestly, how could you just go behind my back like that?"

I was sitting at the top of the staircase with my elbows on my knees and my chin in my hands as I listened to my parents argue. I had been so stupid to allow myself to be convinced to go trick-or treating after all. So, so stupid.

Getting out had been successful enough. I had gotten to the bottom of the tree perfectly fine and gotten away from the house perfectly fine, but that's as far as anything 'perfectly fine' goes. Apparently, my mother had been feeling more sentimental tonight than she had in a while and had come up to my room with two mugs of hot chocolate and her collection of nail polish. She had thought she could put her work off for one night of the weekend in order to cheer me up. She had known how upset I was and wanted to do something a little special for me on my birthday so I wouldn't be so sad. And, naturally, when she had gotten to my room, she had found not only my costume missing from my closet, but me missing from my bed. My costume makeup was still messily laid out on the dresser. She had been waiting for us when we got back and had immediately gone after my dad, knowing it had to have been mostly his doing.

Julian and I had managed to escape upstairs and Uncle Jesse and Tess had slipped back out the front door, a good choice on their part. I knew my mother would be coming upstairs to lecture me any moment, but for now, she was still unleashing some of her anger on dad.

"Come on, Joanna, punishing Lilah like that wasn't necessary and you know it!" Dad responded, his voice rising now, nearly enough to match Mum's.

"No, I'm not sure I do. I thought it was a very appropriate punishment. She knew what the consequences would be for failing another math quiz! And she still clearly didn't prepare enough."

"Merlin, Joanna, are you blind?" Dad asked in exasperation and I could picture him throwing his hands up into the air. "She works so hard, but she's struggling! I'm home with them all day. I see her studying and I see her staying late with Miss Sullivan for extra help! I'm here when Miss Sullivan updates me on how the kids are doing and she says the same thing! Lilah works so hard, but it's just taking her a little longer to understand the math lessons."

"Julian is doing spectacular in all of his subjects," Mum countered. "There's no reason for Lilah not to have the same results."

"They aren't the same person!" Dad exclaimed. "And they're just children! Wonderful children. Sure, Lilah struggles with math, but she's kind and compassionate and she would do anything for the people she loves. And she's funny, and very smart. Miss Sullivan says so, but it's also very obvious."

I could have run downstairs and hugged my dad right then. It was true that my dad was home more than my mother and saw a lot of what really went on, but it just so happened that he generally was more lenient and his standards were different. He didn't expect me and Julian to be perfect all the time. He didn't expect it and he didn't want it. Not from us and not from anyone.

"Obvious to someone who's _home_ with the kids all day?" my mother asked. I cringed. I could sense a whole different argument coming on. New argument, old topic. This was no longer about me sneaking out, but about my dad working for home and not exactly having a steady job.

"Joanna, not this again," Dad groaned.

"Chris, it's getting ridiculous! You say you're _working _from home, but you don't work! You don't always book steady shows and hardly anyone knows who you are! You're basically a nobody!"

Dad was quiet for a moment and I knew he felt like he had been slapped. Even I had felt my stomach twist at Mum's words.

"It takes time," he finally said, his voice a whisper.

"How much time?" Mum asked. "It's been fifteen years since we left school and twelve since we were married. How much time do you need?"

"I'm _trying_, Joanna, I really am, but what I do means the world to me. It's all I want to do and all I've ever wanted to do since I was fifteen. I have nothing else to fall back on anyway. I wouldn't be a good fit for some office job at the Ministry or—"

"There's the Department of Magical Games and Sports. It's where Jesse works and it would be perfect for you. You could love that department if you gave it a try. I've told you many times and I've given you multiple other suggestions, but—"

"But what I'm doing now makes me the happiest," Dad argued.

"Well, sometimes we can't always get what makes us happy," Mum snapped. "And if you ask me, I've been unhappy for a while. Do you think I _enjoy _having to work long hours and sacrifice time with my kids? I hate it. I would love to spend more time with Lilah and Julian. Why do you think I tried to spend time with Lilah tonight? But I can't do it and the one time I can, you ruin it!"

"Please, you act like you were making some big sacrifice, but…." Dad let out a puff of air. "It doesn't take much time to get to know your kids, Joanna. You have the time to get to know them, but you just don't utilize it. It's not just the fact that you're regularly scheduled to work long hours, but you choose to work even when you aren't scheduled. Your life revolves around work and our family's perfect image. If it wasn't for that, Lilah and Julian could have made friends in the neighborhood!"

Mum laughed, a high pitched, shrill sound. "And have them slip up because those neighbors are Muggles? I don't think so! And I have to enforce rules like that because it was your genius idea to live in a Muggle neighborhood!"

"I wanted to be close to Jesse. He's my best friend and the closest thing to a brother I've ever had. He was my very first friend and essentially the first form of company I had had in a while. He's been there for me from the beginning."

"And I never was?" Mum asked.

"You know what I meant. You and I never even talked until we were fourteen and didn't date until we were sixteen. It's not that Jesse means more to me than you, but he is very special to me and I wanted him in my life just as much as you and the kids. I thought we were happy," he whispered. "Despite our problems, I thought we were happy. Aren't we?"

Mum was quiet for a moment and when she spoke again, I could hear her voice cracking. "I'm tired, Chris. I'm tired of carrying all the weight around here and still being made out to be the bad guy. I'm tired of _trying_ and _still_ being the bad guy. I'm tired and I'm _not_ happy." There was a pause and I heard my mother take in a breath. When she spoke again, her voice came out in a tearful whisper, but I still managed to hear her loud and clear. "Chris, I want a divorce."

I stood up so rapidly, I'm surprised I didn't lose my balance and fall down the stairs. I couldn't breathe. Mum couldn't mean that. She just couldn't. But deep down, I knew she did. It didn't take much to see that she and dad have been having problems lately. But part of me had hoped that they were normal problems that they would work out somehow. But now I had the truth.

"Joanna…." Dad whispered. "We can work this out. We can figure it out. We can sit down and talk. We never get to do that and maybe that's the problem. Maybe it's a communication issue."

"That's part of it, but it's too late for that, Chris," Mum answered, still tearful. I could picture her shaking her head. "Don't make me say it again, but it is what I want. It's for the best and I think we'll both be happier this way."

"How can you say that? We love each other. And what about the kids?"

"What am I supposed to do? Don't you think I'm thinking of them?" Mum asked, her voice breaking again. "I want them to be happy and have the best life possible, but…how can that happen with us fighting all the time? We can't make sure they're happy if we aren't happy ourselves."

I felt like my heart was breaking in half. My eyes were welling up with tears and I squeezed them shut as I turned around, ready to head back into my room. I had heard enough. But when I finally opened my eyes, I saw Julian standing by his bedroom door. I hadn't even heard him open it.

We stared at each other for a moment before Julian spoke, his voice barely above a terrified whisper. "Mummy and Daddy don't love each other anymore?" he asked.

Oddly, it was the first time I had heard him speak like the eight year old he was in a while, and even though I thought my heart couldn't break any more, I was apparently wrong. Nevertheless, I swallowed back my own tears for my brother's sake and crossed the hallway to him. I wordlessly pulled him to me and let him cry into my arm as I tried not to cry myself.

* * *

><p>I never knew ceiling of my bedroom could be so interesting. I had been staring at it for the past hour, although I guess I hadn't really been seeing it. Julian and I had sat on the floor in the hallway between our rooms listening to our parents' hushed and no longer audible voices for about twenty more minutes. At that point, we had heard them heading for the stairs, presumably to tell us the news, but either way we weren't going to let them see that we had been listening in from the top of the stairs. We had slipped back into our respective bedrooms and closed the doors as we tried to act natural and like we couldn't possibly have heard they're argument, even through the doors.<p>

My parents were in Julian's room now. Maybe it had been coincidental, or maybe they were more nervous about talking to me. They knew I wouldn't take it well. Julian wouldn't either, but he was younger. If it were me, though, I would've hated having to tell Julian for just that reason. He was eight years old and so obviously hurt by this. I was eleven and could deal with it.

Except I wasn't dealing with it. I had locked my door and wasn't planning on talking to my parents when they came in. It saved me the trouble of trying to hide the fact that I was crying and pretend to be shocked when they told me the news. Why even bother? It was stupid. And I was so angry with both of them, but mostly with myself. I was mad at them for deciding to divorce, but it was entirely my fault that they had made that decision in the first place. If I hadn't failed my quiz, I wouldn't have gotten in trouble and been easily tempted to sneak out. Part of me was mad at Dad for convincing me, but another part of me didn't really blame him. I blamed myself for agreeing. If I had only held my own and not gotten so caught up in a tradition that was so stupid in comparison to having a whole, happy family.

Just as I suspected, my parents came to my door a few minutes later and knocked softly.

"Liles?" Dad asked. "Can we come in?"

"No, you can't," I answered bitterly.

"We'd like to speak with you," Mum added. "We're not going to yell at you. We'd just like to talk."

"I know. I know what you're going to say. I overheard your entire argument."

I could actually hear Dad sighing wearily from the other side of the door. "Great," I heard him mutter. Then, a bit louder, "Liles, please, let us talk to you."

"No," I said.

"Let her be, Chris," Mum said with a sigh.

"Funny, I'd expect you to be the one insisting we break the door down and force our way in to talk to her," Dad said.

"Don't start," Mum answered curtly. "Don't."

A few seconds later, I heard their footsteps retreating from the door and I relaxed slightly. They were gone for now, but I couldn't hide in my room forever. I'd have to face them eventually. And I also knew Mum wouldn't let me off the hook without a lecture for my behavior either. I'd be getting that eventually once she'd given me an appropriate amount of time to get accustomed to things. But who knew how long she would deem appropriate. It probably differed than the amount of time I had in mind and that I probably needed.

Suddenly, I felt my throat constricting again and I turned to bury my head in my pillow as I dissolved into a fresh wave of sobs that somehow managed to lull me to sleep.

* * *

><p>The next morning, I woke up to a silent house. Not that this was unusual. Actually, our house was normally pretty quiet. Mum left for work pretty early every day and Dad would usually try to get some work done in the morning before Julian and I were awake.<p>

Once a week, Julian, Dad and I helped to tidy the house a bit and that was the noisiest mornings ever got. Dad could do a lot of the cleaning magically, but Julian and I were assigned a few rooms to dust, vacuum and clean up. It helped us build character Dad would say in a singsong voice as he grinned cheekily and moved about, flourishing his wand dramatically.

Dad, Julian and I would always eat breakfast and lunch together, too, which I loved. We always bonded and dad would surprise us with whatever breakfast he had concocted that day. Bacon and eggs, cereal and waffles were three of his favorites, but only because they were three of the four breakfast foods he could make, not including toast. But every Saturday we had pancakes in all these weird shapes. Hearts, stars, squares, you name it. He liked to say that he did it completely on his own, but I suspected he used magic considering he usually got the shapes pretty accurate. It was another tradition that had been going on for as long as I could remember.

Then, later in the day, Miss Sullivan came over and our time with her was quiet as well since Dad would be working and Julian and I would be doing our schoolwork. A few hours later Mum would come home and Dad would usually try to have something on the table for dinner. It was never anything fancy, but he did his best.

Some Fridays and Saturdays, Dad would leave right after dinner and go perform one of his stand up gigs. It usually ended up being about two or three times a month where he'd be gone. He brought in decent audiences, but he had been aiming to be doing a lot better by this point in his life. It infuriated him and I knew it, but he never showed it. At least not in front of me and Julian. For us, he was always upbeat, always joking and always making us laugh.

Anyway, this particular morning was especially quiet. I woke up thinking—and desperately hoping—that the night before had been a dream, but seconds later everything came back to me.

I got out of bed and slipped out of my room, looking both ways and relaxing when I saw no one. Julian's bedroom door was still closed, letting me know he was still sleeping. Holding my breath, I made my way down the stairs and towards the kitchen, half expecting to smell pancakes being made as usual, but instead everything was silent. I didn't know if that was good or not. I'd have preferred to run into Dad alone as opposed to Mum or both of them together, but the best option would be to run into neither of them. I wanted to postpone talking to them for as long as possible. At this point I wasn't even mad at them. I was totally ashamed of myself and just…sad.

However, when I pushed open the door to the kitchen, I was surprised to see my mother at the kitchen counter, drinking tea and flipping through a magazine. She was dressed pristinely, as usual. It was ridiculous. She still managed to look so put together and calm in the midst of this mess. This whole scene looked so normal, except for the fact that it wasn't. She was never home at this time. She was always working. That's what threw me off. But it still irritated me that she could just sit there drinking tea and looking at magazines as if nothing was wrong. I wanted to turn and leave, but I couldn't. I knew she knew I was there. But I couldn't bring myself to talk or move.

"Lilah, why don't you sit down?" Mum finally asked, closing her magazine and looking up at me. And in those few seconds of movement, I saw the difference in her. Her voice was tired, but it was nothing compared to how tired her face looked. She had makeup on, but I could _still _see circles under her eyes. She actually looked about ten years older than she was.

I stared at her for a few seconds longer before edging my way to the chair two down from her. I turned it slightly to face her, but didn't look at her. Instead, I stared at the magazine she had been looking at. It was a catalog for furniture. I had to fight back a snort. Figures. Just one more thing to add to the fake normalcy of the entire scene.

Mum cleared her throat. "So…you heard everything last night."

"Everything. Every word. Julian too. Merlin, Mum, he's so upset."

"I know. Your father and I talked to him last night."

"How could you do this to us?" I asked, working hard to keep new tears at bay. I couldn't cry in front of my mother. I hadn't in years. Doing so always made me feel ridiculous. Crying in front of someone so put together. Get real.

"Lilah, it's for the best," Mum said. "As I told your father, it wouldn't be good for you and Julian if your father continued to live in an unhappy and failing marriage. The two of us want different things."

"Opposites attract," I muttered.

"Sometimes, but your father and I are _too_ different. I respect that he's doing what he loves, I really do, but I can't do everything alone."

"You don't though! Dad does everything here while you go to work!"

"I know, and I do appreciate it, but he does need a steadier job. He's been stuck in this fantasy for years! He's a grown man, not a child." She paused. "I shouldn't be talking to you this way about him, though. He is your father."

"We're not doing _that_ bad financially, are we?" I asked. "You don't both need to work, do you? Why can't it just be okay if he doesn't?"

"That's not your concern, but it is hard and very stressful trying to make sure everything's working out the way it should. Besides, there's more to it than his work. Like I said, he needs to learn how to take things seriously and not act like a teenager. Last night was a perfect example."

"I agreed to it, though."

"Yes, but he came to you first." She paused again. "We're still going to have to talk about that, too, you know."

I nodded before waiting a beat and speaking agian. "Lots of families are in our situation, though, I bet. I mean, Uncle Jesse is a single parent. He lives totally on one income."

Mum sighed. "Yes, but he has a family of two as opposed to four. And he works at the Ministry. He's very high up in his department and he worked hard to make his way up. It's different and still none of your concern. But things are going to get a lot tighter around here from now on. There won't be as many extras for a while. I may even have to cancel the Christmas party…."

"Hold on," I interrupted, finally meeting her gaze. My brain was whirring. "It's still an option right now with all that's happening?"

"Lilah, your father and I are divorcing. It's hard, but we can't drop everything and mope. Life goes on. But since I'm cutting back in order to pay for this house _entirely_ on my own now as opposed to adding your father's occasional input before….there are going to be some cutbacks. Not that you and your brother ask for much anyway, but…."

"Wait, you're keeping this house?" I asked.

Mum nodded. "Your father certainly can't pay for it on his own. I can at least make it work. Besides, it's in my parents' name, and I don't think they'd take too well to your dad keeping it."

I actually did snort this time. Mum was right. My grandparents would not see the fairness in that. Like I've said, they're kind of stuffy. And they aren't the biggest fans of my dad. They basically think he's a nobody and definitely not good enough for their daughter. I wondered if Mum had told them the news yet. They were probably throwing a party right this minute.

"So, where is Dad?" I asked.

There was a pause. "Upstairs. Packing."

"Packing?" I shrieked, jumping to my feet.

"Yes, he's moving out today."

"How could you kick him out so soon? Where will he go?"

"He's going to Jesse's house until he can get his own place. And I didn't _kick him out_. He offered to leave today. We talked it all over last night. It's settled."

"No, it's not, Mum," I whispered. "Nothing is settled. Nothing is _normal_, so please stop acting like it and trying to move on less than a day after you even decided to get divorced!"

With that, I turned and ran from the room as the tears started falling. I ran straight back upstairs and into my parents' room, where my dad was standing by the bed, packing things into his bags. He spun around when I threw the door open and I flung myself into his arms, sobbing hysterically. He didn't speak. Instead, he just hugged me, one arm around my shoulders and the other hand at the back of my head. I felt him plant a kiss on the top of my head.

"Please don't leave," I managed to choke out. "You can't."

He swallowed. "I have to, Liles. This is how it has to be."

"No, it doesn't," I said as I pulled away and wiped my eyes.

Dad sat down on the bed and reached out to put his hands on my arms. "Lilah, listen to me, it's all going to be fine. We'll still see each other. Your mother and I worked out a plan last night."

"I'm coming with you," I said. "Me and Julian. We'll live with you."

Dad chuckled. "No, Liles, that's not the plan. The plan is that your mother is going to have custody of you two, but once I'm settled into my own place you and Jules will be able to spend every other weekend with me. Saturday afternoon into Sunday night. Sometimes you'll be able to come on Fridays."

"No, that's not enough!" I exclaimed.

Dad smiled sadly. "I agree, but that's the best plan. You and Julian are better off with your mother right now, okay?" He smoothed my hair down and made an attempt to smile wider, but it didn't work. "She can take care of you better than I can."

"No, she can't! She wants me to be so grown up and she wants me to be so put together all the time, just like she is. She doesn't get that I'm eleven and that I don't know what I'm doing and…she only makes circle pancakes!" I was practically panicking now. It was true. My mother did give up having a close relationship with me and Julian in order to work. She was a great mother and I was lucky to have her in the first place, unlike Tess, who didn't have a mother at all, but on the other hand she wasn't as close to us as Dad was. And she was more strict and uptight and way more of a perfectionist.

Dad actually laughed. "When you and Julian start spending your weekends with me, I'll make you your shape pancakes, don't you worry."

"But it won't be every Saturday. All our traditions are falling to pieces, just like our family is and it's all my fault."

"Oh, Lilah, no," Dad whispered, pulling me into another hug. "This isn't your fault. This was just a blow up waiting to happen. You did nothing wrong."

"I failed my quiz and Mum got mad and then I snuck out when I wasn't supposed to!"

"That was my fault. It was a childish idea and I shouldn't have done it. But I just…I disagreed with your mother's decision and I felt that I was your parent too and had a say in what you could do. But I did go about it the wrong way and I'll admit that. But you are not at fault for what's going on with me and your mother. It's our business and this was a long time coming. Don't blame yourself."

I shrugged. It was easy for him to say that, but it was very hard for me to actually do. I couldn't see how I wasn't to blame in some way. Maybe I hadn't been the sole cause of the divorce, but I had been the final straw.

"Were you even going to say goodbye?" I asked.

"Liles, really?" Dad asked, giving me a look. "Of course."

I nodded and wiped my eyes again. "I don't like this arrangement at all."

"Neither do I, but I have to think of what's best for you and Julian and you need to be with your mother who has a steadier, higher paying job at the moment. I wish things were different, but they aren't. I wish I wasn't struggling so much, but then who knows? Even if I had all the money in the world, the divorce might have happened anyway. But we'll see each other soon and we can write!"

"Mum won't buy us an owl," I said. "Too weird for the Muggle neighborhood."

"But Uncle Jesse has an owl. We'll be careful about it. Sneaky so the Muggles don't see. Your Mum doesn't have to worry. Besides, she can't keep you from writing to me. I am your dad after all. If we have to, we'll use Muggle mail."

"Can I come see you at Uncle Jesse's?" I asked.

Dad hesitated before shaking his head. "I'm going to be doing my best to be getting more jobs and finding my own place. I'm going to be busy and so will you. You need to focus on your life here. And I'll tell you what. Every Sunday, I'll come by and take you and Julian out for a few hours, okay? Then, once I have my own place, you'll spend every other weekend with me. When you aren't in school, that is. It'll be okay, Liles, I promise."

"I'm not sure I believe you right now," I said quietly.

"I appreciate the honesty," Dad said, giving me a tiny smile. Then he scrunched his face up into a hilarious imitation of Grandma Eleanor—my Mum's mother—and proceeded to imitate her voice almost spot on (it was uncanny and a bit scary). "Now, Lilah, dear, make sure you are on your best behavior while I'm gone. Be a good girl, eat all your vegetables, get plenty of fresh air, sit up straight, don't fidget and don't have any fun whatsoever. Keep that up and the next time I see you, I won't be able to tell you apart from the oak tree in the backyard."

I let out a watery laugh and smiled slightly as I threw my arms around my dad again. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you, too, Liles," he answered. "Hang in there. I know it's hard, but keep your head up and keep laughing. It's the best medicine, don't forget that." He smiled and tickled my side, getting me to laugh for real.

Ten minutes later, after Dad had woken Julian up and said his goodbyes, the three of us stood at the front door. Julian and I in the doorway and Dad out on the porch in front of us, his bags at his feet. Mum stood a few feet behind us on the bottom step of that beautiful staircase. Uncle Jesse, who was a very versatile and ambitious person and had gotten his Muggle driver's license years ago just because, was waiting in the driveway in his car.

"See you soon?" I asked, giving Dad a small smile. Julian hadn't said a word since Dad had gone into his room to say goodbye earlier. Even now, he was standing silently and solemnly at my side.

Dad nodded. "Next Sunday at noon. We'll go to the park or something, okay?"

I agreed as Julian and I gave Dad one last hug. When he pulled away, he looked back at Mum and met her eyes. "Bye, Joanna," he whispered, bending down to get his bags without breaking eye contact.

"Bye, Chris," she said, her face neutral. How she wasn't bawling right now was beyond me. I was on the verge of it again as it was. "Good luck…with everything. I really do wish you the best."

Dad gave her a curt nod. "You too." He flashed me and Julian a smile before turning and walking to Uncle Jesse's car. He got in on the passenger side and shut the door. I saw Uncle Jesse give him a reassuring smile and clap him on the shoulder before putting the car in reverse and backing out of the driveway. As they drove past the house and down the street, I met my dad's eyes through the car window. He lifted a hand and waved and Julian and I did the same. Not even a minute later, the car was going around the corner and it was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

It was nearly midnight and even though Mum had insisted I go to bed two hours ago, I hadn't fallen asleep. I was actually wide awake with no idea how to accurately decipher anything I was feeling.

Nearly a year had passed since my parents had decided to get divorced. Ten months to the day, actually. And tomorrow I was leaving for Hogwarts.

I had thought things might get easier after the initial shock and hurt of my parents' failed relationship had worn off. But that's not how I would put it now. It wasn't that things had necessarily gotten easier, but I had learned how to better deal with them.

Dad had managed to find his own place about a month after he had left our house. It wasn't anything special, but it put a roof over his head and it meant that he had stable enough living conditions to have Julian and I come stay there every other weekend, just like he had told me would happen. And he seemed to be working harder than ever to work on his acts and expand the locations he would travel to. He was more open to taking jobs on weekdays as opposed to just the weekends and he seemed to be working a lot more, actually. He never said it directly, but I figured it was because before the divorce, he wanted to be around me and Julian more, knowing how much Mum worked. How could he leave us alone to fend for ourselves while he went to work multiple nights a week to all these places? But the Saturday nights when Julian and I stayed over were always just for us. And sometimes, if Dad didn't have anything booked on Friday nights, we'd go over a day early, which was great.

At first, it was hard because we'd be on Mum's schedule all the time and we relied on her to bring us to Dad's seeing as we couldn't Apparate and Dad hadn't hooked his fireplace up to the Floo network yet. So, Mum would Apparate us there. But even with the quick transportation, her timing would always be off. The first time she brought us over, she took us an hour late and picked us up an hour early the next day. When Dad brought it up to her, she sighed and rubbed her forehead saying that she was very busy and had things to do.

I knew things were hard for her as well now. I lived with her. I saw it firsthand. Sure, she was already pretty secure in her job at the time of the divorce and sure she didn't have to find a new place to live, but as she had told me the day Dad moved out, there were going to have to be a few cutbacks until she could adjust to three of us on one income. Not that it took all that much time. She worked harder and longer than ever. Lots of times, Julian and I were home alone all day, except for when Miss Sullivan came over. I don't know why she thought it was a good idea to leave two children our age home alone, but she did. Maybe it was because she knew we were pretty responsible for our ages. We could handle it. The two of us were left to do the cleaning and light cooking ourselves because Mum would simply be exhausted when she came home. Since Julian and I hadn't been able to cook all that much at first, we made simple easy things or ordered food from Muggle places that actually brought food to your house. It was fascinating, really, and I was glad Uncle Jesse had told us about those places.

As time went on, though, I became sick of eating the same stuff over and over, so I dug out my mother's cookbooks, dusty from lack of use, and attempted some of the easier recipes I found. Cooking, I discovered, wasn't all that hard as long as I could read. And also as long as I didn't have to double or halve the recipe because that involved adding and dividing fractions and I'd probably blow the house to smithereens.

Because of Mum's long work hours and extra effort, she ended up getting a promotion a couple of months later. Which was wonderful and I was very happy for her, but it also meant that her work load and hours weren't going to change much. If anything, they'd only get worse.

It did mean, however, that we were more financially stable than we had been at the beginning of the divorce. We didn't have to cut back as much anymore, which was a lot less stressful for Mum. And for all of us really.

It was because of Mum's work schedule that I was so worried about going to Hogwarts as opposed to being excited. I was worried about Julian. He still had another two years before he'd be off to school as well, which meant another two years of practically being on his own. I knew Mum had pretty much decided to leave him with her parents for the day while she was at work so he wouldn't technically be home alone, but either way, he'd be lonely. Grandma and Grandpa wouldn't give him the time of day. Either that or they'd try to lecture him on every little thing he was doing _improperly_. They'd completely forget he's a nine year old boy and expect him to act like a grown up. A _perfect_ grown up, which is something that doesn't exist.

On the other hand, I was naturally very excited to start Hogwarts. It's something I've dreamed about since I was little. Every witch and wizard does, for that matter. And now I was finally going. But I just wanted to know that everything would be okay at home without me.

Just then, there was a knock on the door and I looked up, startled out of my thoughts.

"Liles, are you awake?" The door opened a sliver and though I couldn't make out any of Julian's features, I could see him silhouetted against the hallway light that he had presumably just turned on.

"Yeah," I said, sitting up and pulling my knees to my chest. "What's up?"

Julian slipped into the room and shut the door before coming to sit on my bed. Moonlight shone through the window and spilled across his face, making his light brown hair look silvery and lighting up his green eyes that looked a little worried.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

I nodded as my brother averted his gaze to my trunk, lying filled with my things at the end of my bed. "Jules, what's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm just going to miss you is all," he responded, his voice surprisingly even and calm. "It really is going to be just me, by myself at Grandma and Grandpa's. We both know they'll be around less than Mum is and they're both retired."

"I know, Jules, and I'm so sorry," I said, a pang of guilt hitting me as I reached out and put a hand over his. "I wish I didn't have to go for that reason."

"No, Lilah, I want you to be excited. Don't worry about me. You can't take care of me forever."

"But you're nine," I responded. "You're just a kid."

"And you're almost twelve! Just a kid yourself. Liles, you've always helped take care of me, even more so in the past year. I can survive an entire two school years on my own. I don't like it, but I can do it."

I smiled. "You're very brave," I said. "I'll bet you anything you'll be sorted into Gryffindor within two seconds."

"So will you," he answered.

I smiled. "I hope so," I replied, nudging his shoulder. There was a pause. "Come here, Jules," I whispered, pulling him into a hug. We sat like that for a little while longer until he disappeared back into his room and I tried once again to get some sleep.

* * *

><p>"Well, there it is," Mum said with a sigh as she, Julian and I stared at the brick barrier between platforms nine and ten. She glanced at me. "You remember how I instructed you to go through, don't you?"<p>

"I do," I replied, taking a deep breath and exhaling as I adjusted my owl cage resting on top of my trunk. The cage consisted of a beautiful pale grey owl with white markings here and there. According to Mum, it was an early birthday gift and it was probably my favorite gift from her ever. My very own owl. I had named him Casper and had used him almost at once to send a letter to my Dad, telling him the news. But as it turned out, he already knew. Mum had warned him not to get me a pet when he took me to get my school supplies. It was actually one of the few times she had spoken to him in the past year.

"Well, your father should be here any minute," Mum said impatiently, "and he'll be able to see you off the rest of the way. Where is he, anyway?" She checked her watch. "I have to be at work in fifteen minutes. I already took a few hours off so that I could get you to the station, but I really can't postpone going in any longer. I have many important meetings today."

"Great," I muttered, searching the station for my Dad. I was just as impatient for him to get here, but not for the same reasons my mother was. Obviously. Mostly, I was just excited that he was coming today in the first place, but I also didn't want to hear my mother complain anymore.

"There he is!" Julian finally called, pointing. I turned just in time to see my dad hurrying towards us. Julian started running towards him, despite my mother's orders for him to stop, and threw his arms around Dad when he reached him.

"Julian, you really shouldn't have run off like that," Mum scolded as Julian and Dad made their way back to us. "The station is crowded. You could easily get lost."

"But I saw Dad," Julian said as if Mum was being slow on the uptake. "I was running to him."

"Watch your tone, Julian," Mum said, pursing her lips as Dad threw one arm around my shoulders and kissed my head. When he noticed Julian's scowl, he reached out with his free hand and gently ruffled his hair before attempting to tickle his neck, effectively causing Julian to laugh.

"Chris, honestly," Mum sighed. "Must you always goof off?"

Dad raised his eyebrows. "I didn't know making my children laugh was goofing off."

Mum let out a tired sigh. "I don't have time for this right now," she said. "I have to get to work and you're late."

"Not even by five minutes," Dad protested.

"I have to go," Mum said. She gave Julian and I swift kisses goodbye before she started backing away from us. "Have fun, Lilah. Make sure you do all your homework and study hard. And make sure you _behave_. I'll see you at Christmas. I'll need a pair of extra hands to prepare for the Christmas party." With that, she blew me a kiss, turned around and hurried away.

I sighed. "I can't believe her."

"She's working hard to make sure she can provide for you two," Dad pointed out.

I bit my lip. I knew that, but because of that I had even less of a relationship with her now than I had before the divorce. "Even still, all she cares about is me behaving like a perfect angel and getting good grades and all that. I couldn't even tell her that I'm still nervous about going and that I worry about Jules being lonely. She'd laugh at me."

"I already told you, Liles, you don't have to worry about me. I'm going to be fine." Julian gave me an earnest look as he crossed his arms defiantly. "I'll survive Grandma and Grandpa's and I'll still be seeing Dad every other weekend. It'll be fine."

"It's nice of you to worry about your brother," Dad said, "but he will be okay. Seeing me every other weekend will luckily make sure he doesn't end up bored to death at your grandparents' house."

I smiled and took a deep breath. "Should we get going, then?" I gestured to the barrier.

Dad nodded. "Together?"

"Together," I nodded, slipping my hand into my dad's as he grabbed Julian's hand with his free one. He counted to three and we ran at the wall. At the last second, I squeezed my eyes shut as part of me worried that somehow the wall wouldn't work right. But it worked fine. I didn't feel a thing and when I opened my eyes, I couldn't help but smile and let out a laugh of excitement. The bright red Hogwarts Express stood in front of me, billowing steam and looking ready to get going. "It's beautiful," I whispered.

"Isn't it?" Dad asked. He looked at Julian. "What do you think, Jules?"

"Can I just get on it now?" Julian asked, his eyes wide.

Dad and I laughed. "Unfortunately, no, but your time will come soon enough." There was a moment of silence as he looked around the platform. "Hey, there's Jesse and Tess."

I tore my gaze away from the train to see my best friend and Uncle Jesse standing near the middle of the train, talking to each other. "Let's go say hi," I suggested, my excitement growing at the sight of familiar faces.

Tess squealed with excitement when she saw us and ran over to throw her arms around me. She then hugged Dad and Julian and even stuck her finger into Casper's cage and began cooing at him. "He's beautiful," she said.

"So is Ruby," I said, gesturing to the carrier case containing Ruby, Tess's calico cat.

Tess smiled and peered into the cage to look at her cat. "She is pretty cute, isn't she?"

I nodded and grinned back. It was obvious that Tess was radiating nothing but excitement. It was typical of her. As I've said, she was always the one looking on the bright side, and always the one to be so positive. She was also the one who was always smiling and showing her excitement. There was usually no room for nervousness with her, although I'm sure she felt it. It was just only on occasions where it was extremely necessary.

Just then, the train's whistle blew, signaling we only had a limited amount of time before it would be departing. Dad and Uncle Jesse helped us load our trunks onto the train and then it was time to say goodbye for real. The nerves were coming back again full force as I turned and hugged my Dad.

"You'll do amazing, Liles," he said, as if he were reading my mind. "You'll have Tess and I'm sure you'll make plenty of new friends. Your mother was right when she said you have to do your homework and study, but make sure you have fun, too. Seven years may seem like a long time, but it'll be over before you know it. Besides, you're only a first year once." He paused. "Unless you fail miserably, of course."

"Dad," I groaned, pulling out of the hug.

"You won't fail," he laughed. "Even I didn't fail. You'll do great. I promise."

I nodded and turned to Julian, hugging him tightly. "I'll miss you," I whispered.

"I'll miss you more," he whispered back. "But honestly, don't worry about me so much that you don't have any fun."

I let out a quiet laugh. "I'll throw wild parties in the common room every night," I told him. "Sound good to you?"

He laughed. "Sounds perfect."

I kissed his cheek and whispered that I'd see him at Christmas before breaking out of the hug and turning to Uncle Jesse to give him a hug goodbye as well. Then, I turned to face the train, where Tess was already waiting, hanging out of a window.

"Liles, hold on just one more minute," Dad said. "I have something for you," he added, when I turned around. "Uncle Jesse gave one to Tess too, and we thought it would only be fitting for you to have matching ones…." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box before handing it to me. "Go on, open it."

I gazed down at the box before gently pulling open the top. My mouth dropped open in surprise. Inside the box was a silver bracelet with a single charm dangling from it. I pulled it out of the box and held it up to my face as I examined the circular charm with an opal in the middle—my birthstone. "Dad, it's beautiful," I whispered.

"Tess has the same one, except with an amethyst for February," Dad responded. He paused. "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" I threw my arms around him before pulling away and slipping the bracelet on. I stared at it happily before my smile faded. "Do you…can you afford to buy gifts like this?"

Dad snorted. "Liles, can you stop worrying about stuff like that? You're only eleven years old. You're too young to be worrying about that just yet. Besides, it's my business. And it's fine. I've been working a lot more these days. I think my career's really taking off now."

"Because you don't have to take care of me and Julian anymore?" I whispered.

Dad stared at me in shock. "No, Liles, don't think of it like that. Sure, living on my own has given me more time to work, but…" he sighed. "If I could have you and Julian with me full time, it would mean so much more. I loved taking care of you two. Don't ever think for a second this situation really makes me happier. I'm glad I've been working more, but I'd be even happier if I got to see you two more often. Trust me."

"But that's why you were limiting yourself before the divorce, right? That's what you were doing, weren't you? However subconsciously it was, that's what happened. Because of me and Julian, you limited yourself and it led to a divorce."

"Liles, will you _stop_ finding ways to blame yourself for what happened?" Dad asked forcefully. It was one of the rare times I ever saw him like that. "What happened is _not _your fault."

"Fine," I muttered, turning away.

"Lilah, it's not fine. I—"

Just then, the train's whistle blew a second time and Tess started to hurriedly gesture for me to get on board. Dad let out a puff of air. "Terrible timing," he muttered.

"I have to go," I said, turning away.

"I don't want you to leave on a bad note," Dad said worriedly.

"We aren't," I assured him as I climbed on the train, which was now starting to move. I stuck my head out of the window beside Tess. "I love you. Thanks for the bracelet. I really do love it."

Dad nodded as he, Julian, and Uncle Jesse started to wave goodbye. "Have a good time," he called, "and we'll see you at Christmas."

"Bye," I called back, raising my own hand in a wave. I kept my head out the window until I could no longer see any of them. That's when I finally pulled my head back in and sighed as I grabbed my trunk. "Should we find a compartment?" I asked Tess.

She nodded. "I don't really fancy standing here the whole ride," she said with a smile.

I agreed and began leading the way down the train. Since we had most likely been the last two to begin searching for a compartment, there was no surprise that every single one we looked in was full.

"What should we do?" I asked, pausing in front of the last two compartments. "They're all full, so should we just join one of the emptier ones?"

"I think that's really our only option, yes," Tess said, nodding her head and smiling. Her blonde curls bounced with the movement. I never knew hair could look excited, but leave it to Tess to have that kind of hair.

"Well, which one do you suggest, then?" I asked.

Tess shrugged and turned in a slow circle as if our lives depended on her choice. Luckily, we didn't even have to wait for her to pick one. The compartment door to my left slid open just then and we turned at the sudden sound and movement. A boy who looked about our age was standing there, grinning at us.

"Hi," he said casually. "Looking for a compartment?"

I nodded. "We are, actually."

"Well, we have room in here, if you'd like to sit with us. There's only room for two to fit comfortably, so it's a really good offer. If you don't take it, you'll be sorry."

"Oh, will we?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

The boy nodded and I gave him a once over. He was a little taller than me with bright red hair that looked perfectly messy, if that even makes sense. He was also covered in freckles and had the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen in my life.

I glanced at Tess. "What do you think?"

Tess smiled. "I think we should take it. He seems very friendly."

I snorted. She was right; the boy was friendly. And he _had_ offered, so why not? I turned back to the redheaded boy. "Okay," I told him. "We'll sit with you."

"Excellent," he said, grinning even more widely. He held out his hand to me. "Fred Weasley, by the way."

"Lilah Fitzgerald." I answered, taking his hand and shaking it before gesturing to Tess. "This is my best friend, Tess Clarkson."

"Pleasure to meet you," Fred said, shaking Tess' hand as well.

"Hey, Fred, stop being such a charmer and introduce your new friends to the rest of us," another voice said from inside the compartment.

Fred smiled and gestured for us to follow him with a tilt of his head. "Come on," he said, leading us inside. There were three more people sitting there. A boy with dreadlocks was sitting by the window on the bench to my left and a girl with long dark hair was sitting across from him. Next to the girl was a boy that looked identical to Fred. I blinked in surprise and glanced between him and Fred. "You have a twin?"

Fred nodded. "This is George," he said, pointing to his twin. Then he nodded to the boy with dreadlocks. "That's Lee, and across from him is Angelina." The girl with the dark hair waved and smiled. "We just met them on the platform," Fred continued before turning to address the others. "Everyone, this is Lilah and Tess," he said, sitting in the empty spot next to George. I waved shyly at everyone before beginning to put my trunk on one of the overhead racks.

"Merlin, Fred," George piped up from behind me, "why don't you help her out? Where are your manners?"

"Where are yours?" Fred asked with a snort.

They both snickered before George appeared at my elbow. "Let me help you with that."

"You aren't much taller than I am," I said with a smile and another raised eyebrow.

"I will be," George answered with a grin as he stepped up on the seat to gain enough height to put my trunk on the rack. He gestured for Tess's trunk next and I helped her pass it to him.

"You sound sure of that," I said as I caught my breath after lifting the heavy trunk.

"I am," George responded, grunting slightly as he finished putting the trunks away and jumped down from the seat. He gestured for Tess and I to sit down, which we did, before he took his own seat across from us and between Fred and Angelina. "If the way my brothers shot up like weeds over the years is any indication, I'll be towering over all of you before you know it."

"How many brothers do you have?" I asked curiously.

"Five, including Fred," George answered casually as if everyone had so many siblings.

"Five?" Tess asked in surprise. I knew she would find that even more surprising than I did. I had one sibling already, but having five more sounded like a lot to me. Sure, there were positive aspects, I was willing to bet, but having a big family was something I had never been used to. And Tess definitely wasn't used to it. It had been just her and Uncle Jesse since she was two years old.

It was Fred who nodded and spoke this time. "And we also have a little sister."

"So there's seven of you total?" I asked, my eyes wide.

Fred nodded. "Yeah, it's great, actually. Bill already left school, and Ron and Ginny haven't started, so it's just us, Charlie and Percy here right now. Charlie's a sixth year, Percy's a third year, and George and I are first years. Ron's nine and Ginny's eight. But what about the rest of you? Any siblings?"

"None," Angelina said. "It's just me."

"Same," Lee added.

Tess nodded. "Me, too."

"I have a brother," I said. "He's nine, just like your brother." I gestured to the twins. "His name is Julian." I smiled as my brother's face popped into my mind. I missed him already and I'd been gone less than half an hour. I was also glad the twins had a brother that was the same age. Maybe he and Julian could be friends. That would be perfect. We could make sure my brother had a friend before he even started school. Surely that would diminish some of his nerves once it got closer to the time he would start school.

"Nice," Fred said. "Finally someone else with a sibling, even if it is just one."

"I've always wished I could've had a brother or a sister," Angelina sighed. "I can only imagine what it must have been like to grow up with six siblings." She glanced at the twins. "Your house must get so chaotic."

Fred laughed. "That's an understatement."

Another half an hour passed before a witch pushing a food trolley came to the compartment. At Fred's suggestion, everyone bought a small variety of candy and then we all pooled it together to share. It was going to be a long ride and at least now we'd have a mini-feast to pass the time before we'd arrive at school and have a real feast. I couldn't wait for that. I had heard it was fantastic.

I was amazed at how much my nerves and worries seemed to fade away during the course of that ride to Hogwarts. Fred, George, Lee and Angelina were so easy to talk to, and the twins were so upbeat it was contagious. And they were completely hilarious to boot. They couldn't seem to go five minutes without attempting to make someone laugh. They reminded me of Dad in that sense and it was actually kind of comforting. I appreciated it even if they were only doing it because it was who they were.

We spent the ride talking about what houses we hoped to be in and what the Sorting would be like. The twins said that their older brothers, Bill and Charlie, had told them we had to fight a troll, but I thought that sounded highly unlikely. If it were true, however, I might as well stay on the train and never get off because there was no way I could conquer a troll on my own.

Before I knew it, we had changed into our robes and the train was beginning to slow down. We were instructed to leave our trunks on the train for them to be brought to our dorms later. After that, we flooded off of the train onto another platform. The train hissed and puffed out steam behind us.

I grabbed Tess's hand so we wouldn't be separated in the crowd and kept my eyes on Fred and George's flaming red hair as they squeezed through the crowd. How they knew where they were going, I wasn't sure, but I pulled Tess after them anyway. After all, the twins did have three older brothers. Chances were they had been told where to go once we got off the train.

But suddenly, I saw where we were headed. There was a man standing just head holding a lantern. He was so tall that I was amazed that I hadn't seen him before. He was also shouting for first years to meet up in front of him.

"Who is that?" I asked one of the twins—Fred I think—as I leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

"Hagrid," Fred answered. "He's the gamekeeper."

"Who told you that?"

"Bill," he answered, throwing a smirk and a wink over his shoulder. "It pays to have older siblings sometimes. They can tell you all of the secrets."

I giggled as Fred turned around again to face forward as we approached Hagrid. Once all the first years had assembled in front of him, he instructed us to follow him towards the lake, where a fleet of small boats were waiting. There were four to a boat, and Tess and I found ourselves sharing one with the twins. Angelina and Lee were joined in their boat by two other girls I had vaguely remembered seeing in one of the train compartments when we had first boarded. Once everyone was settled, including Hagrid, who took up one entire boat on his own, the boats started moving by themselves, something that didn't shock me, but was exciting nonetheless. And then, after only a few moments, the boats rounded the corner and I got my first view of Hogwarts.


	5. Chapter 5

Hogwarts was beautiful, inside and out, I quickly realized. Of course, I hadn't seen much of the inside yet, but I could already tell.

When we had first seen the school from the boats, my mouth had dropped open. It was beautiful and everything I had imagined it would be, with its numerous tall towers and lights glowing from the windows. The lights reflected in the lake, making even the water look like it was glowing. I couldn't believe this would be the place where I'd be going to school for the next seven years.

Once the boats had reached the shore, Hagrid ushered us out and up a path to the front doors, where he had pounded on them with an abnormally large fist.

"He can't be a regular person, can he?" I whispered to Fred as we waited in the silence that followed Hagrid's knock. "I mean, he has to have at least some giant in him. He's probably twice my dad's height…." I trailed off and shook my head.

Fred nodded. "I think you're right. How much giant he has in him, I'm not sure, but it has to at least be a little, like you said. I don't think I've ever seen a man that tall."

Just then, the oak doors swung open revealing a tall, thin woman wearing emerald green robes and a pointed black hat. She had her hair pulled into a tight bun and she looked very stern.

"I have the firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said with a smile.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I can take them from here," the Professor McGonagall woman said, staring around at all of us first years standing before her.

Hagrid gave us all a reassuring smile before turning and walking away. I tore my gaze from his retreating back to look at Professor McGonagall, who was still looking at us almost expressionless. I couldn't figure out if she looked mean or just stern.

"Follow me," she said, turning and disappearing through the front doors. We followed her and got our first glimpse of the inside of Hogwarts: the entrance hall.

It was a tall, spacious room with huge marble staircase straight ahead, a big set of doors to our right, and about five or six other smaller doors scattered around other places of the room.

"If you'll wait right here for a few moments, I'll make sure we're ready for you," Professor McGonagall said. She flashed us a quick half smile—it looked more like a mouth twitch—and disappeared through the big set of doors on the right.

"So, what do you think the sorting is like?" I asked the twins as the rest of the first years began whispering to each other.

"We told you," George said, "we have to fight a troll."

"I think you two believe that just as much as we do," Tess said, rolling her eyes slightly, "which is not at all."

"Ah, well, there has to be other people who will believe us," Fred said, looking around. "What about that one over there?" He pointed to a small looking boy who I'm pretty sure was visibly shaking was fear.

"You'll do no such thing!" Angelina exclaimed, horrified. "He's terrified as it is. You'll only scare him more."

"Exactly," Fred said with a grin.

"Don't you think that's a little mean?" I asked.

Fred shook his head dismissively. "Nah, it'll be fine. In a few minutes, he'll figure out I made it up and everything will be okay. It's everyone else's fault for keeping the sorting such a surprise anyway. Honestly, it's like everyone's parents and older siblings were trained to not breathe a word about the Sorting and let us see for ourselves."

Before Fred could manage to make his way over to the terrified looking boy, Professor McGonagall came back into the entrance hall. She gave us a little speech about each of the four houses and how we'd most likely end up in the one that was like our family—all information most of us already knew—and then she instructed us to get into a line before she led us into the great hall.

I gasped slightly as I entered the room. It was huge. There were four tables, two on each side of me, and a table at the front where all the teachers sat in front of a row of windows. Candles hovered above every table, seemingly suspended in mid-air. But the best part was by far the ceiling. Dad had told me about it, but it was even better in person. It was charmed to reflect the sky outside. Right now, it was inky black and filled with bright, twinkling stars.

I was so busy being in awe of the room that I didn't fully register how full the room was—all the older kids and all the teachers were obviously already there—until we were almost at the front of the room. I considered that a good thing because once I realized all eyes were on us, I felt my cheeks turn a bright red and I lowered my eyes to the ground as I suddenly felt shy and nervous.

Once we had come to a stop, I looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing beside a single wooden stool containing a tattered, beat up old hat. She began unrolling a list of parchment in her hands as we finally had the sorting process explained to us. As it turned out, we only had to try on the hat and it would tell us which house we'd be in. So much easier than a troll. And such a relief. But unfortunately, it took place in front of the whole school. And once I was on that stool, I'd be singled out and everyone would be staring at me for sure. At least nobody could do that while I was standing in the middle of all the other first years.

Professor McGonagall began reading names off the list in alphabetical order of last name, so I still had a ways to go until my name was called. Even so, I felt myself holding my breath as the first person was called to the stool. It was a girl with long, curly brown hair. I saw her hands shaking as she lowered herself onto the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head and it seemed like everyone in the room had stopped breathing for sure at this point. After about thirty seconds had passed, a rip near the brim of the hat opened wide and the hat shouted out, "Ravenclaw!"

The table on my far right erupted into wild cheers and claps as the girl hopped off the stool, grinning widely, and made her way to an empty spot on one of the benches, where everyone around her congratulated her and patted her on the shoulders and back.

After that, I began to relax some. It did seem very easy and generally didn't take very long. Sometimes the hat took longer to decide for some students, but the longest seemed to be about a minute and a half. I hoped that wouldn't end up being me. Even such a short time would feel like an eternity when I was waiting for such an important decision to be made.

"I hope you're in Gryffindor with me," Fred said, glancing at me as a boy with sandy hair was sorted into Hufflepuff. Fred had already told me on the train that he fully expected him and George to end up in Gryffindor. Their entire family had been in Gryffindor and he really had no reason to believe he wouldn't be as well. I was trickier. As I had told everyone on the train, my mother was a Ravenclaw and my dad a Gryffindor. My mother's parents were both Ravenclaw's and my dad's parents were a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff. So I really had no idea where I could end up. It could be anywhere, but looking at the majority, Ravenclaw seemed to be a good bet. But I still couldn't know for sure.

"I hope so too," I told Fred. And I honestly did want to be in the same house as him and George. I hadn't really had much of a preference until now. But I had already made a group of three friends besides Tess before I had even gotten to school and I liked the twins a lot. I'd have loved to be in Gryffindor with them and able to spend as much time with them as I wanted. There was something about them that made me _want_ to be around them all the time. Lee and Angelina had predicted they'd be in Gryffindor, too, which was another reason I'd want to be in that house, but Tess would probably end up in Hufflepuff, which made me want to be put there instead. But another part of me knew I could've been put into either of the two, or even Ravenclaw, and I'd be happy.

Soon, Professor McGonagall was calling Tess's name. Lucky girl. She was going before me and could get the whole thing over with.

"Go," I whispered, nudging Tess and smiling as she let out a squeak and made her way forward. It was one of those rare cases when she was actually nervous. But believe it or not, she actually wasn't fully showing just how nervous she was. I swear, she was so gifted in that department.

I watched as my best friend sat down on the stool and had the hat placed over her bouncy curls. Actually, the hat slid down to practically cover her eyes. If I wasn't so nervous, I would have giggled.

Tess wasn't sitting there for all that long before the hat's brim opened up. I braced myself, waiting to hear the verdict.

"Hufflepuff!"

I let out the breath I had been holding. I had expected Tess to be in Hufflepuff. Both of her parents had been after all. And the house was totally fitting for her, from what I had heard at least.

I watched as the Hufflepuff table cheered and Tess ran off to join them, beaming from head to toe and any traces of nerves gone. I smiled. I was truly happy for her and knew she would do well in Hufflepuff. And even if I ended up in another house, I knew the two of us would still manage to see each other. We had promised each other we would, no matter what happened.

Before I knew it, Professor McGonagall was on the letter 'F' and then she was calling my name. "Lilah Fitzgerald," she said, her eyes scanning the crowd in front of her.

I took a deep breath and didn't let it out until a few seconds later when Fred nudged me forward and whispered, "Good luck," into my ear.

I made my way forward, feeling as if my legs were made of jelly. The stool all of a sudden seemed so far away, but yet the time it took me to walk up to it passed quickly. I glanced at Professor McGonagall, who gave me another of her quick smiles before I turned to face the rest of the hall and plopped myself onto the stool. I gripped the sides of the rough wooden seat as I felt the tattered hat being placed on my head. There were a few seconds of silence until a voice spoke in my ear. I gasped quietly. The hat was _talking_ to me.

"Hmm, a difficult decision," it said. "You've had family in quite a few of the Hogwarts houses."

_I know_, I couldn't stop myself from thinking. I didn't know if the hat expected an answer, but I definitely wasn't going to open my mouth. I'd look like an idiot.

"But where to put you?" the hat asked. "Hmm, I think there's one house that's just slightly better suited for you than the others…Gryffindor!"

I sighed with utter relief and barely noticed Professor McGonagall pulling the hat off of my head. I barely noticed her smiling for real this time. I barely even noticed the cheers coming from the Gryffindor table. All I could think of was that I had officially been sorted into my very own Hogwarts house and it hadn't been hard or even all that frightening. The wait had been way more difficult than the actual sorting.

I reached the Gryffindor table, where the older kids sitting there immediately started congratulating me. I smiled and blushed as I took a seat and turned to pay attention to the rest of the sorting. At least I could watch the rest of it and enjoy it. I felt bad for the twins. They'd have to stand there waiting for almost the whole ceremony.

Soon, Professor McGonagall had reached the J's and Angelina and Lee were sorted within a few people of each other. They were both put into Gryffindor and I grinned and clapped wildly each time. At least it looked like I'd have two friends in my house already, even if by some chance the twins were sorted somewhere else.

By the time Professor McGonagall had reached the W's, I was more anxious than ever. Besides, I was getting hungry. I wanted to start the feast and more importantly, I wanted to know where Fred and George were going to be sorted. I wondered if it were possible for them to be put into different houses. It probably was, but even after only knowing them for a few hours, I could tell two things. One, they were confident that it wouldn't happen, and two, that if it did, they wouldn't be too happy about it.

"Fred Weasley," Professor McGonagall called finally. I saw Fred gulp, but then shoot a grin at his twin before making his way confidently up to the stool. The hat was placed on his head and everyone sat in silence as we waited for the deliberation. I saw Fred smirk after a few seconds and I wondered what the hat was saying to him. I didn't really have time to think about it much, though, because the hat opened its brim and shouted out the final decision.

"Gryffindor!"

I clapped the hardest I had since Lee and Angelina had been sorted as Fred jumped off the stool, practically flinging the hat back at Professor McGonagall as he went, and ran towards me. Even though I barely knew him, I found myself throwing my arms around him in a congratulatory hug.

"Congratulations!" I exclaimed. "You made Gryffindor, just like you wanted to."

"I knew I would," Fred said nonchalantly, but he was beaming nonetheless.

Angelina hugged Fred too and Lee clapped him on the back as we all sat back down again. George's name was called then, and he made his way up to the stool, looking slightly queasier than Fred had, but not by much.

"Nervous?" I asked Fred, jerking my chin towards George.

"Nah, he'll be fine." Fred said, shaking his head and shrugging.

"What if the hat says, oh, I don't know, Ravenclaw?"

Fred snorted. "George? In Ravenclaw? I mean, he's smart and all, but even Percy wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw." He jerked his thumb towards a boy sitting across the table from us and a few seats down. He had red hair and freckles, just like the twins. The only differences were that his hair was curly, he wore horn-rimmed glasses and had brown eyes instead of blue.

"Gryffindor!" the hat suddenly cried and our table erupted into cheers again. Fred was probably the loudest. He stood up and gave his twin a giant hug when George reached him.

"Congratulations, George," I said, standing up and giving a hug too.

"Thanks, Lilah," he said, taking a seat on Fred's other side. We waited for the last few first years to be sorted before turning and looking at our plates, anxiously anticipating dinner. My stomach growled noisily. I was sure the whole hall had heard it.

Just then, the boy with the horn-rimmed glasses got up and made our way over to us. Fred had called him Percy, and he looked a lot like the twins, so it was a safe bet that this was one of Fred and George's brothers.

"I just wanted to congratulate you two," he said. "Mum and Dad will be pleased as well." He grinned and pushed his glasses further up his nose.

"Thanks, Perce," Fred said with a smile. He pointed to Angelina and Lee, who were on George's other side. "That's Angelina and Lee." He turned to me. "And this is Lilah. George and I have already made friends."

Percy actually let out a quiet chuckle and shook his head. "I'm not surprised that you have, actually." He nodded at Angelina, Lee, and finally at me. "Nice to meet you three. And welcome to Hogwarts—and to Gryffindor. We're happy to have you. Hopefully you'll prove us correct in feeling that way."

"Wow, Perce," Fred said, raising an eyebrow. "Laying the pressure on thick already, I see. Off to a great start."

Percy sighed. "I just meant that—"

"Yeah, yeah, we knew what you meant," Fred said with a laugh.

"It's nice to meet you," I said to Percy with a small smile, to make him feel better. He clearly wasn't new to Fred and George's teasing, but it was also clear that he didn't enjoy it, no matter how harmless and innocent it was. "And I'd like to think I'll prove you correct."

Fred and George groaned. "What a kiss up!" Fred cried. I knew he was teasing but I glared at him anyway as he continued speaking. "You don't want to kiss up to Percy, Lilah. It's not like he's a Prefect or anything."

"Yet," Percy interrupted.

Fred waved a hand dismissively. "Anyway, even though it's Percy's wildest dream, the fact of the matter is that he's not old enough to be a Prefect, so he hasn't been made one as of today, so you don't need to kiss up to him. If you're going to kiss up, do it to someone important, like McGonagall or Dumbledore."

Percy let out a huff and crossed his arms. "Just because you two aren't wholesome and respectful and considerate doesn't mean everyone else isn't."

The twins gasped. "Percy!" George exclaimed in shock. "How could you say that?"

"Please don't tarnish your new friends," Percy said. "I'd hate to see them in trouble on your account." With that, he turned and went back to his seat.

"He's not like you two at all," I said in amusement, glancing at Fred.

The twins both snorted. "No, he's not," Fred said.

We didn't get to talk anymore because a man seated in the center of the staff table had just stood up to speak and the hall had grown silent. The man had a long white beard, half-moon spectacles and twinkling blue eyes that I could see from where I was sitting. I knew who he was instantly. Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster. I had grown up seeing him on chocolate frog cards. He seemed to be on almost every card I opened.

"I'd just like to make a few start of term announcements before we begin," he said with a smile at all of us as he looked around the room. "To all of our new students, welcome. To all of our returning students, welcome back. I'm sure we're in for a wonderful and exciting year. I'd like to remind everyone that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to students, as usual. I'd also like to remind everyone that Mr. Filch, our caretaker"—he gestured to an old man standing in the corner of the hall, holding a cat—"has reminded _me_ that there is a list of forbidden items that are not allowed to be used. Currently, the list contains about four hundred items and can be found hanging outside of Mr. Filch's office for your reference."

"We'll need to get our hands on that," Fred whispered to George. "Or at least a copy."

I wanted to ask them why they were so interested—I somehow doubted they wanted to memorize the list so they could better follow the rules—but I didn't have the time. Dumbledore had wrapped up his speech and was sitting down. As soon as he did, food and drinks magically appeared in the middle of the table. Instinctively, I peered underneath the table. I knew it had been magic that had made the food appear, but I was so impressed that I wasn't sure how to react.

"How do you suppose that happens?" I asked the twins.

Fred shrugged as he took a bite out of a chicken leg. He had already put food on his plate and was digging in. "I know the food is made in the kitchens by house elves, but I don't know how they get the food out here. Bill wouldn't tell me that."

"Do you know where the kitchens are?" I asked, beginning to put food on my own plate. "We could try to find out for ourselves."

Fred and George both turned to look at me in awe. "You'd do that?" Fred asked. "You'd come with us and find out if we went? We'd probably have to go after hours…and technically students are supposed to be in the kitchens….It's not the worst rule we could break, not even by a long shot, but…."

"I'll go," I said. "Calm yourself down, Fred." I was finally starting to get the hang of telling them apart. I was so afraid of mixing them up that I had spent nearly the whole train ride in looking for differences between the two of them. So far I had noticed that Fred's eyes were a lighter shade of blue. More of a sky color, while George's were a deeper shade. Besides that, George's nose had a slight bump in the bridge, while Fred's nose was straighter.

Fred and George both grinned happily. "Seems like we don't even need to worry about tarnishing you. You're already tarnished."

"I get curious," I shrugged, stabbing some of the food on my plate with my fork. "And I'm not as perfect as your brother seems to think." I grinned. "I'm still pretty close, though, I'd say."

"Eh…." Fred teased, wrinkling his nose, "I don't know about that, Fitzgerald. You aren't that great."

"Excuse me?" I mock-gasped, putting my fork down and staring at him. "Take that back!"

"Never!" Fred cheered, laughing as he chucked a carrot at my head.

I rolled my eyes and sighed as I turned away to finish my dinner. Julian and I had never gotten all that rough with each other, even if it was just playful. We never really threw things at each other. Sometimes, but rarely. Usually it was just playful punches and head locks here and there. But even those had dwindled in the past year. I got the feeling that Fred and his family did stuff like that all the time. But it was all extremely playful and harmless and fun. I found myself actually envying his big family a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade the family I have now for the world, but I was definitely seeing some advantages of having so many siblings around. Constant advice and tips about everything, including going off to school, and someone to always laugh with and joke with were just two of the positives I'd seen just from meeting the twins earlier that day.

Maybe the fact that the twins' family was already so obviously different from mine was part of the reason why I felt so drawn to them. Maybe opposites did attract after all. At least to some extent. Or maybe it was just the twins themselves that pulled me in. Or maybe it was even both. But either way, all I knew is that I was drawn to the two redheaded twins I had just met not even twelve hours ago and I had a strange feeling that between them, Angelina and Lee, I had just made a very good group of friends at Hogwarts.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks so much to all of the people who have reviewed so far and too all of the people who have added this story to their favorites or alerts! It really means a lot.**

**I hope everyone had a wonderful new year! I can't believe it's already 2015!**

**Thanks again for reading and feel free to let me know what you think of the chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

_Dear Julian,_

_ I'm all settled in at school and right now I'm sitting in my very own dorm. I just got back from the welcome feast. Guess what? I got put into Gryffindor! The sorting was actually very easy, but I can't tell you what it is. Apparently, it's some kind of tradition to keep it secret. Other first years' siblings have done the same for them. That's what I've heard, at least._

_ Anyway, Tess was sorted into Hufflepuff, which is great. She was really happy about it and I'm happy for her. I do wish we could have been in the same house, but we'll still see each other I bet. I haven't talked to her since we got here earlier, before we were sorted, but hopefully tomorrow I will get to talk to her._

_ I also made four new friends on the train. Two of them are twins named Fred and George. The other two are a boy named Lee and a girl named Angelina. They're all great and all in Gryffindor with me, which is such a relief. It'll be great to have someone to hang out with and go to classes with. I would hate to have to do it all by myself. Oh, and I also found out that Fred and George have a younger brother who's your age. Maybe you two can be friends, even if you aren't in the same house. Hopefully you will be, though, because that does work out sort of perfectly._

_ I hope the rest of your day went well and that you didn't have too much fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Honestly, I hope you weren't assigned reading again like we were the last time we went over. It's like they thought we weren't being educated enough at home with Miss Sullivan._

_ Anyway, I miss you so much. You have no idea. I wish you were here, actually. Tell Mum I said hello and tell Dad the same when you see him next weekend, although I'll probably send him a letter of my own as well. I would tell you again to hang in there, but I don't want to suffocate you like you've been accusing me of doing lately. Honestly, it's all out of love. Trust me._

_ I'll see you soon. I miss you. And, by the way, have fun by yourself with Miss Sullivan on Monday. That should be fun. Anyway, write back as soon as you can._

_ Love, Lilah_

I folded the letter up and wrote Julian's name on the front before attaching it to Casper's leg. Apparently, once he was done delivering it, he'd go stay in the owlery, where all the school and student owls lived.

Once Casper was out of sight, I let out a sigh and crawled under my covers. My other roommates—Angelina and two girls named Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet—were already getting into their beds as well.

"Okay," Alicia suddenly said, reaching over the side of her bed and into her trunk. She pulled out a stash of candy and tossed Katie, Angelina and I a chocolate frog each. "It's about time we got to know a little bit about each other."

"We _just_ met. There's no rush for us to do that right now," Angelina said, gazing down at her chocolate frog, "and I couldn't possibly eat this." She held it up and waved it back and forth slightly. "I'm too stuffed.

"Well, then save it for another time," Alicia shrugged. "I just thought we'd have some snacks while we talk. And I would hate it if we just immediately went to bed without talking a little bit. Don't people typically have conversations with each other when they first meet?"

"I suppose so," Angelina said, glancing between me and Katie. We shrugged. I didn't mind staying up for a little while longer, especially since I was curious to get to know my new roommates. But I was pretty tired as well so I had no idea how long I would last.

"Okay, well we've already introduced ourselves to each other," Alicia said thoughtfully as she munched on her own chocolate frog. She suddenly looked at me, who was sitting in the bed directly across the room from her. "Birthdays. Go."

I blinked for a second, taken a bit by surprise, before I answered. "October thirty-first."

"Hey, mine's October twenty-fifth," Angelina said, her eyes lighting up in excitement as she smiled at me.

I smiled back. It was exciting to be making friends in the first place after years of practically no contact with any other kids besides Tess and Julian, but even more exciting to find that you almost shared a birthday with one of them.

"What's it like to have a birthday on Halloween?" Katie asked. She had given in to unwrapping her own chocolate frog and was nibbling on the end. She paused after she asked the question. "You probably get asked that a lot. Sorry."

I shook my head and picked at a loose thread on my comforter. "Yeah, usually people just comment on it. But it's not a big deal. I mean, it's _fun_. For as long as I can remember I went trick-or-treating with my brother and parents—although it was just my dad after a while. Mum was busy and not into it—and my Dad's best friend Jesse would come too with his daughter, Tess. She's my best friend. She's a first year, too, but she was sorted into Hufflepuff." I had gotten so caught up in talking about one of my favorite traditions that I hadn't realized how fast I had started to talk or that none of my roommates probably knew what trick-or-treating was. I was also surprised that I still could get excited over it. I hadn't been looking forward to my birthday since the events of last year, but I supposed that there had already been too many good memories made that they kind of took over the bad ones.

"Sorry, what's trick-or-treating?" Alicia asked, wrinkling her nose and tossing her empty chocolate frog wrapper into the trash can near her bed.

I let out a tiny laugh. "Sorry, I just got carried away. See, both my parents are magical, and so is my dad's friend—I call him Uncle Jesse even though he's not my uncle—but Uncle Jesse's a Muggleborn. Both of his parents are Muggles and he taught my dad a lot of Muggle traditions. Trick-or-treating is one of them. Muggles will dress up in costumes on Halloween and go door-to-door asking for candy." Merlin, it sounded so weird when I explained it like that.

"That…is weird," Alicia said, confirming my suspicions. "Why can't your family just get your own candy?"

"There's probably a story about how it all started, but I don't know it," I admitted. "I never asked Uncle Jesse, oddly enough. I probably should have."

The other girls were quiet for a moment before Alicia suddenly turned to Katie. "Birthday?"

Angelina, Katie and I snorted with laughter.

"What?" Alicia asked.

"It seems like you were just waiting the appropriate amount of time to be polite after Lilah finished speaking before moving on."

"I wasn't trying to be rude!" Alicia exclaimed, laughing now as well. "I'm just trying to keep the conversation going."

"You may need to work on it a bit," Angelina giggled.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," I shrugged, grinning at my new friend. "You just have a lot of energy."

Alicia smiled. "I've heard that before, actually."

We fell into silence again before Katie spoke. "August thirty-first. That's my birthday. I actually just made the September first cutoff date for this year. A couple of days later and I would've started here next year."

"We're glad you didn't, then," Angelina said with a grin.

Alicia and I agreed before Alicia spoke up again. "So your birthday was yesterday!"

"That's right," I said, blinking in realization. "Happy birthday!"

Katie blushed as Angelina and Alicia wished her a happy birthday as well. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Oh, can we sing to her?" Alicia asked eagerly, clapping her hands together.

"No," Katie insisted firmly, her eyes wide.

"Yes, oh, please, Katie?" Alicia persisted.

"I can't sing anyway," I said, shaking my head and laughing.

"Neither can I," Angelina agreed.

"That's okay!" Alicia assured us. "I can't either."

A few seconds later, I found myself joining in a very terrible and out of tune version of 'Happy Birthday' without knowing how I had been convinced to do so. Nonetheless, tonight was the first time in, well, forever, that I had spent time with a group of friends, laughing and having fun together. My only complaint was that Tess wasn't here, too, but something told me that she was probably doing the same thing in her own dorm, and something else told me that she was probably the Alicia of the first year Hufflepuff dorm.

"Well, I'm beat," Alicia said with a sigh once we had finished singing. She slid under her covers and pulled them up to her chin.

"Already?" Angelina asked in surprise. "You were the one all for getting to know each other and all we found out about each other were our birthdays!"

"I know, but I ended up using more energy than I anticipated," Alicia said with a smile. "We can continue tomorrow."

I giggled. "Can't wait."

"Was that sarcasm?" Alicia gasped, raising her head to look at me.

"Of course not!" I gasped dramatically, putting a hand to my chest. Then, my smile faded slightly and I gave her a serious look. "No, but honestly, this is the most fun I've had in a long time."

"Yeah?" Alicia asked, beaming excitedly.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Good, I'm glad," she answered, putting her head down again. Angelina, Katie and I did the same and turned off the lights beside our beds. About ten seconds of silence passed before I heard Alicia's voice in the darkness. "June fourteenth."

"Hm?" Angelina's groggy voice asked.

"My birthday. It's June fourteenth. I never got the chance to tell you."

I couldn't help it. I started to laugh and a few seconds I heard the others join in.

"Shut up," Angelina said, even though she was laughing too. "Some of us are trying to sleep here."

"Sorry, Your Majesty," I giggled. "We'll try to let you get your beauty sleep now."

"Heaven knows you need it," Alicia laugh.

"I hate you both," Angelina muttered. "I only like Katie right now."

"Good," I said. "I'm so happy for you."

Angelina let out a snort of laughter and we managed to fall silent again. It had been a while since I had laughed so hard and been so happy. With that in mind, I managed to fall asleep with a smile on my face.

The next day was my very first day of classes at Hogwarts. I ate breakfast with Angelina, Katie, Alicia, Lee and the twins and Professor McGonagall passed out our schedules. Believe it or not, all of us had the same classes. Actually, that was pretty common for first years in the same house. We usually had to start getting all the classes we were required to take out of the way before eventually moving on into choosing our own electives. It was actually a huge relief to have my friends in my classes as well. It would take a lot of the anxiety off of the first day of classes.

"Ready?" George asked me as we stood up to head to Charms.

"As I'll ever be," I sighed.

"Just think about how all the Muggleborns must feel, though," Fred chimed in. "They had no idea about any of this. At least we've grown up with it. We know what to expect."

"It must be so hard for them," I said, shaking my head as I thought of how Uncle Jesse must have felt.

"But probably so awesome," Fred added. "I mean, if I suddenly found out about all of this," he gestured around him with his arms, "I'd be ecstatic."

"Me too," I agreed. I paused at the foot of the marble staircase and looked around at my friends. "Do any of you actually know how to get to the Charms classroom?" I turned to Fred and George. "You two seemed to know all the secrets."

Fred snorted. "Yeah, but we don't know everything. Our brothers weren't about to give us a detailed description of the castle. Plus, they can't tell us every secret. We have to figure some out on our own. It's more fun that way."

"Oh, of course," I answered. "How silly of me to not realize."

Fred raised his eyebrows and glanced at George. "This one's got quite the fiery attitude, Georgie," he said.

George nodded. "I've noticed."

"I like it," Fred concluded. "What do you think, though? Do you think we should keep her around?" He put a finger to his chin as he pretended to think.

"I don't know," George sighed. "Her sarcasm _could_ potentially be annoying."

"True," Fred said.

"You two are impossible," Angelina cut in, pushing past them to go up the stairs. "And if you don't move it, you're going to make us late for our very first class. How would you like that hanging over your heads?"

Fred and George both shrugged and snorted.

"They wouldn't care," I said, jogging up the stairs to catch up with Angelina. "Of course they wouldn't care. They'd laugh."

"Lilah is clearly very good at assessing character," Fred said loudly from behind me. "She's already making predictions on how we'd react. And she's completely accurate. Amazing."

"Shut up," I muttered, throwing a smirk over my shoulder all the same.

We ended up making it to Charms class right on time and chose tables in pairs at the back of the room. Angelina and I sat together and the twins sat behind us. After a moment, Professor Flitwick walked in and began class by welcoming us all and giving us an overview of what we'd be learning this year. It all sounded incredibly interesting to me, but Fred and George clearly thought otherwise. Five minutes in, they began flicking paper at the back of my and Angelina's heads. Either they were bored or they had already mastered the levitating spell Professor Flitwick was promising we'd learn soon. However, something told me that wasn't the case. Fred and George certainly weren't the type to learn any spells in advance. I wasn't either, but picturing the twins doing that was actually laughable. Anyway, Angelina and I ignored them until Angelina finally turned and sent them such a glare that both twins stared at her wide eyed before sinking lower into their seats a bit. I, on the other hand, stifled a laugh into my hand. I also could've sworn the corners of Angelina's mouth turned up. I couldn't be sure, but I was willing to bet they had.

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><p>"So this is it," Fred explained as we all stared up at the giant painting of a variety of fruit on the wall in front of us. "It has to be. It's exactly as Bill described."<p>

"Okay, and what did he tell you to do to get us in?" I asked. "It's no help if he only described the painting to you."

Fred looked at me wide eyed before turning to look at George. "She's so _cheeky_!" he stage whispered.

"You're telling me," George said, meeting my eyes and shaking his head playfully.

"Just work your magic and get the painting to open," I sighed, despite the smile appearing on my own face. We were standing in front of the kitchens, having decided to pay a visit after dinner that night. I was actually really excited to be here. I was incredibly eager to find out as much about my new school as possible and have fun while doing so. I was already looking forward to writing to Julian and Dad about tonight's adventure. But I could never tell my mother. She'd most likely be horrified.

"If you insist," Fred said now, bowing dramatically as he pretended to tip an imaginary hat. Then, he stood on his tiptoes and extended his hand towards the painting. He lightly tickled the pear and it actually let out a childish giggle, which got me to laugh. Fred smiled at me before stepping back. As he did so, the painting swung open, leaving the doorway to the kitchens wide open just for us.

"Amazing, isn't it?" I asked, looking around me. "This school? All its secrets?"

Fred and George nodded in agreement before Fred gestured for me to enter the kitchens. I did and looked around in awe as Fred and George followed me inside.

"Woah," they said together as our eyes fell upon the four tables set up inside. They were identical to the ones upstairs that we had eaten at exactly four times now.

"I'd say these are exactly underneath the ones in the great hall," I said, stepping closer and gazing upwards. "You think they send the food through the ceiling?"

"I think that's the only logical way," George said, stepping up beside me. "If these tables are underneath the ones in the great hall, like you said, then how else would you explain how the food just seems to magically appear? There must be some kind of magic that let's the food just...go up."

I took in a deep breath and let it out. "Amazing," I said. "Julian would love this."

I saw Fred open his mouth as if to ask me something, but just then, we were distracted by a group of house elves coming out of a door behind us. They immediately began bowing and asking how they could help us.

"Are you hungry?" the one standing closest to us asked. "Anything you'd like, you can have. Rosie will get it for you in no time." She gestured to herself proudly.

I smiled. "Is that your name? Rosie?" I asked as I crouched down in front of her.

"Yes, Miss, it is," Rosie said shyly.

"It's a pretty name," I told her as she blushed and pulled her large ears over her huge grey eyes. I giggled and pulled her hands away so that her ears flapped upwards again. "My name is Lilah and these are my friends, Fred and George."

"Did you say you can get us _anything_ we'd like?" Fred asked, staring down at Rosie in disbelief.

"Fred," I scolded, glaring up at him.

"I'm just making sure!" he said defensively, holding up his hands.

"Yes, Rosie and her friends can get Miss Lilah and her friends anything they'd like." She gestured behind her to the other house elves, who were also smiling at us happily—almost eagerly, actually, as if they wanted nothing more than to help us.

"Excellent," Fred said, clapping his hands together. "What about some leftover apple pie from dinner earlier? That was delicious."

"Oh, yes, of course," Rosie said happily. She nodded and her giant ears flapped as she did so. "What about you?" she asked George.

"The same, please," he said.

"And for you, Miss Lilah?" Rosie asked, turning her large, round eyes on me.

"Er," I glanced at the twins who nodded, encouraging me to get something. "Alright, make that one more slice of apple pie."

"Coming right up," Rosie said squeakily as she and the other house elves disappeared back through the door they came in.

"She's cute, isn't she?" I asked with a fond smile as I stared at the door Rosie had disappeared through.

"Yeah, I suppose," Fred shrugged, staring at the room and taking it all in.

"They certainly seemed excited to help us," George observed, walking across the room to a small nook in the corner with a few smaller, circular tables, all with chairs around them. "Think we can sit here?"

"I don't see why not," I shrugged, walking over to join him. The three of us sat down at a table, Fred sitting on his chair backwards and resting an arm across the back and his chin on his arm.

"I can't believe we made it down here," he said. "I've been dreaming of coming here ever since Bill told us about it. And we solved the mystery of how the food gets on the tables at every meal."

"Yeah, thanks for coming, Lilah," George said.

"Are you kidding?" I asked. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. It's amazing."

"Which is why we like you," Fred said with a grin as he lightly punched my arm. I smiled.

Rosie brought over our food just then, along with three steaming mugs of hot chocolate. "That looks delicious," I sighed.

"Rosie is glad Miss Lilah thinks so. If there is anything else you need, be sure to let Rosie know."

"We will," Fred said, nodding his head vigorously. I kicked him under the table and he winced.

"Thank you, Rosie," I said with a smile at the house elf.

She grinned and bowed again as she backed away from the table. I watched her go with a slight smile on my face. I had never met a real house elf before. No one I knew had ever had them, either. Not that I knew many witches or wizards. I think Mum ahd considered getting one, but with her fear of our neighbors becoming suspicious, she hadn't. I'm actually glad she didn't. Even though house elves are usually really happy to do their jobs, some part of me wouldn't feel right about sitting around while someone else did chores that I had no problem doing myself. Usually.

"So," Fred said, once Rosie was gone.

"So what?" I asked glancing up at him as I poked my fork into the slice of pie in front of me.

"What's your story?" Fred asked, tilting his head to the side as he stared at me.

"You know it for the most part," I answered, wrinkling my nose in confusion. I didn't know what he was getting at. I had already told him my general background on the train. "I have a mother, a father and a nine year old brother, Julian. My birthday's October 31st, yes, on Halloween. I—"

"No, that's not really a story," George said, swallowing a mouthful of hot chocolate and shaking his head. "Those are facts. We want to know your story. More details."

I flinched. Details. I hadn't told anyone here at school yet that my parents weren't together anymore and that I had taken it pretty hard. I hadn't wanted to throw that into basic getting-to-know-you conversation, even though I probably could have and it would have been fine, maybe even normal. But it was hard to bring myself to do it. Apparently it was still a bit of a touchy subject.

"I saw that," Fred said, and I knew he was referring to my flinch. "You have something good. Share," he demanded.

"No, it's just that…." I trailed off and picked at my food, suddenly not feeling in the mood for it. "My parents aren't together anymore. They divorced a year ago. It's kind of difficult to go into details without mentioning that, which is also difficult to do. Naturally, divorces are hard on everyone, but I may have taken it extra hard."

The smiles instantly faded from Fred and George's faces. "Oh," they said together.

"I'm sorry, Liles," Fred said, putting a hand over mine. He paused. "Is it okay if I call you that?"

I gave him a tiny smile as I nodded. "My dad and brother call me that."

"Not your Mum?" George asked.

I shook my head. "Rarely. She's more…uptight and, well, formal, I guess, than my Dad."

Fred and George were quiet for a moment. "Do you…want to talk about the divorce?" Fred asked.

I hesitated. I really liked that he was giving me the option of talking or not talking. I had given them the fact that my parents were divorced and they were letting me choose whether or not I wanted to give them the details. I had expected them to immediately ask what had happened if I was honest.

I spun my hot chocolate mug in my hands as I debated my answer. I had only known the twins for a day and while I did like them very much and already felt like I could call them my friends, how sure was I that I could completely trust them? How did I know that they would understand if I told them the whole story from beginning to end?

"I think I'd rather not," I finally said, letting a puff of air out of my mouth as I looked up at them. "It's not that I don't like you, but—"

"Of course that's completely it," Fred said jokingly, reaching out and nudging my arm playfully. "You hate us."

"I don't!" I giggled, smiling as I blushed and stared down into my hot chocolate. "I just…the only person who knows all the details are my brother, obviously, and Tess. I don't know if I'm ready to share them with anyone else, especially people I just met."

"You're close with your brother, aren't you?" Fred asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Of course I am. You clearly are with at least one of yours." I gestured to George.

"Yeah, we're all pretty close in our family," Fred said. "But I think George and I are the closest. Anyway, I was just asking because, well, you're three years older and a girl."

"That doesn't mean we can't be close," I said. "We actually spend a lot of time together. We were all each other had for the most part, especially in the past year."

"Since the divorce?" George asked with a sad smile.

I nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Didn't you have anyone else in your neighborhood you could be friends with?" Fred asked curiously.

"Tess lived two streets over," I said with a shrug.

"That's not what I meant," Fred said with a roll of his eyes.

I shook my head. "Not really. We lived in a Muggle neighborhood." I paused. "Did you have any witches or wizards living near you?"

The twins looked at each other and shrugged. "A few," Fred answered. "But we're not exactly close with them. Or even friends, really. More like acquaintances. But maybe it's because we have so many siblings, we always had someone around. We were never lonely."

_Lucky you_, I thought with a tiny sigh.

"A family called the Lovegoods live a few hills over," George elaborated, "but I don't think we've ever even met them. Fred and I haven't, at least, and I don't think the rest of my siblings have. Mum and Dad maybe, but…." He trailed off and shrugged again.

"And the Diggorys live a few hills over in the other direction," Fred added. "We've met them a few times. Our Dad works with Mr. Diggory at the Ministry. Not in the same department, though."

"What department does your dad work in?" I asked, finishing off my hot chocolate.

"Misuse of Muggle Artifacts," the twins answered together. "Dad loves Muggles," George added after a silence. They both looked at me as if challenging me to laugh. I didn't. A beat later, Fred spoke.

"He collects plugs."

I still didn't laugh. At this point, I knew they were testing me. "I don't know what plugs are, but if your dad likes to collect them, then I don't have a problem with it," I finally said.

The twins grinned. "We—our whole family—get a lot of backlash from other people about it, actually," Fred said. "Everyone thinks it's ridiculous and thinks we're despicable and a disappointment to the wizarding world. Blood traitors and all that."

"That's silly," I answered with a shrug. "There are plenty of other things witches and wizards have done that are loads worse than liking Muggles and collecting plugs. _They're _the disappointments for thinking _you're _disappointments."

The twins grinned even wider and they both blushed slightly. "So, what do your parents do?" George asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"My mother works at a book publishing company," I answered. "For magical books, not Muggle ones, in case you were wondering."

"We weren't," Fred answered. "We figured, actually, considering she's magical after all."

I snorted with laughter and spun my empty mug in my hands.

"And your dad? What about him?" Fred continued.

I hesitated. I was proud of my dad, naturally, but I had been raised hearing my mother's complaints about his job for almost as long as I could remember. She had clearly been very unhappy with his career choice. At least in the ways it affected their life together. But I had never been embarrassed by my dad. I thought he was amazing. Even after the divorce, I never blamed him. Not really. I never thought that his huge tendency to be _funny_, and to be himself was a bad thing. Sure, maybe it had crossed my mind a few times that one of my parents had been a little different and more like the other so the marriage could have worked out, but they were fleeting thoughts. At least when connected with who was responsible for the divorce. I mean, I certainly wished my mother didn't have to work so much, but a part of me understood her reasons and understood it was just how she was.

"My dad's a stand-up comedian," I answered finally, pride evident in my voice as I gave Fred and George a look similar to the one they had previously given me, challenging them to laugh. They didn't.

"What's that?" they asked instead.

I smiled. I had forgotten that they wouldn't know. "It's a Muggle job," I explained. "Basically, he writes a whole act, talking about things going on in the world and making jokes about them. Then, he gets hired by places to go and perform in front of an audience. We don't have comedians in the magical world, as you know, although I don't know why. We should. My dad's really amazing at what he does, too. He's really funny. He can do all these voices and imitations, and he can always get me and Julian laughing, no matter what." I smiled fondly. "When we were kids, he used to put on puppet shows and they were the absolute best things ever. And when he would read us bedtime stories…he had a different voice for every character. It was brilliant."

"He sounds great," Fred said earnestly as George nodded.

I smiled and we were all quiet again. "There's a lot I want to find out about you," Fred finally said, folding his hands in front of him and speaking in an overly formal voice. "Like, for instance, how your dad got the job he has, and a bunch of other stuff, but, believe it or not, the first full day of classes has gotten me extremely tired. So, if you don't mind, we'll have to cut this conversation short."

I giggled. "I don't mind. I'm tired as well."

We got ready to leave and said our goodbyes to Rosie, who seemed to appear as if on cue when we stood up to go. Then, we made our way back to Gryffindor tower, where we said goodnight to each other before going up the stairs to our own dormitories. When I got to mine, Katie and Alicia were asleep, but Angelina was still awake, reading a book.

"Where were _you_ for the past few hours, Miss Social Butterfly?" she asked, giving me a smirk.

"Fred, George and I found our way to the kitchens," I explained. "We met some of the house elves and ate."

"Of course you did," Angelina sighed. "The three adventurers. I can see it already. You three going places you aren't technically supposed to go, doing things you aren't supposed to do, getting in loads of trouble and lots of detentions."

"I can also see that," I told her with a cheeky smile as I headed for the bathroom to change into my pajamas. Once I had, I crawled into my bed and turned off the lamp on my nightstand just as Angelina turned out hers. She might have said goodnight to me, but I wasn't sure, because I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

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><p><strong>AN: So I realize this chapter got a bit long, but I do like how it turned out. I also realize that Katie should technically be a year younger than the twins, Angelina and Lilah, but I decided to bump her up to their year since she is part of the group and I wanted her to be part of Lilah's bonding experience with her dorm-mates.**

**Thanks for reading and feel free to let me know what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

If I was completely honest with myself, I was having the time of my life at Hogwarts. Everything finally felt as if it was going right. I was getting good grades (my worst class was Potions, but I was aiming to be able to bring that grade up soon), I had my very own group of friends and I was learning how to actually do real magic instead of the strange little things I had always just randomly made happen before. It was wonderful. The only complaint I had was that I wished I could still see my dad and Julian all the time. I missed my mother, too, of course, but as everyone is well aware at this point, we don't have much of a relationship. I loved her and knew how much she cared and I appreciated all she did, but I wished she could've been around more for me, that's all. It would be nice to have a grown up, wiser woman to go to sometimes.

Anyway, the problem of desperately missing my family was dealt with somewhat by letters. As I said, Casper was the best gift my mother had ever bought me. I loved having my very own owl to deliver messages for me. I usually ended up writing my dad and Julian about once a day and my mother once a week. Sometimes once every two weeks, depending on her responses. She was busy, as usual, and sometimes other tasks slipped away from her. That's what she said in her letters, at least, although a bitter part of me feels as if she left out the words _less important_ between the words _other _and _tasks_. But then I hated myself for thinking things like that. As I've said, I appreciate my mother and all of the hard work she does.

Time at Hogwarts seemed to fly by incredibly fast. Maybe it was because I was busier than usual, but before I knew it, it was my birthday. And Halloween, of course. I woke up that morning with mixed feelings. I had been happier in the past two months than I had been in a while, but I couldn't help but be reminded of what had happened a year ago on this very day. This year, my birthday was also on a Saturday, which meant that I didn't have classes. A plus and a minus all in one. On the plus side, I didn't have classes; a good thing in itself. But on the other hand, the absence of classes meant that I didn't have anything to distract me. At least, _I _didn't have anything planned. I suspected that the twins might have planned something with Katie, Alicia and Angelina, but I couldn't be sure.

Alicia, of course, true to her character, led Katie and Angelina in a chorus of Happy Birthday the second I walked out of the bathroom in the morning. I blushed and threw a pillow at Alicia, but I was still smiling nonetheless. It was a great start to my day, though, I had to admit.

When I got down to the common room, I was nearly tackled by the twins, who practically screamed birthday wishes in my ear. It caused a bit of a commotion and earned some looks from the few other students in the room. Needless to say, I blushed for the second time in ten minutes.

"Thanks, you two," I said once they had pulled away from me.

"Feel any older?" Fred asked, taking a step backwards and giving me a once over. "You don't _look _any older."

"Thanks…I think," I said with a giggle. "And no, I don't feel any older. I still feel the same as I did when I was eleven, which felt the same as ten." I smiled a bit wider as I remembered having the same conversation with Uncle Jesse a year ago.

"So you're saying you feel ten right now?" George asked, punching my arm lightly.

I gave him a playful punch in the arm in return. "If you want to be technical about it, then I yes, I suppose so. But I don't really want to actually be ten."

"Ah, so anxious to grow up," Fred said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. "She's in such a hurry to grow up she's going to rush through the best years of her life."

"Shut up," I laughed, giving him a gentle shove.

I ate breakfast with the twins, Lee Katie, Alicia and Angelina. Even Tess came over from the Hufflepuff table to sit with us. I told her she didn't have to, but she insisted. I had introduced her to my friends at the first opportunity I had gotten and she had done the same for me with her friends. We were all pretty comfortable with each other at this point, which I was thankful for. I had been worried about Tess and I growing apart after being put in separate houses, or that there would be some jealous tension from one or both of us once we realized we were making new friends. But I soon realized those thoughts were silly. We had never been like that. We both knew how much we mattered to the other and that we could never be replaced.

After breakfast, we all walked down to the lake. I hadn't asked to go there, we had just aimlessly headed that way, but I half wondered if my friends had decided upon it together. They all knew that the lake was one of my favorite places at Hogwarts. It was peaceful and I could think there, if I ever felt the need to just be in the peace and quiet without having to go to the library. Even I got sick of being surrounded by books sometimes and I was usually one to enjoy them.

"Okay, I don't think I can wait any longer," Tess finally said, bouncing up and down slightly. We had only been sitting at the lake for about fifteen minutes and she was already having trouble sitting still.

"Wait any longer for what?" I asked, looking over at her.

"To give you your present, of course!" she exclaimed.

"My present?" I asked in surprise. I was confused to say the least. I wasn't expecting anything from any of my friends. "How did you manage to get me a present?"

"Well," Tess said slowly, "my dad sent it over. He also said that he wouldn't do it unless I said it was from him as well, which technically, it is, so…." She trailed off and reached into her bag, pulling out a small, neatly wrapped box. I suspected that even though Uncle Jesse had dealt with getting the gift and sending it over, Tess had wrapped it. Uncle Jesse had never quite perfected the skill of gift wrapping, while Tess had practically been born knowing how to do it. Besides, she was naturally very neat and organized. At the first sight of any wrinkle in the wrapping paper, she probably would have ripped it off and started again.

"Thanks, Tess," I said taking the gift from her and turning it over a few times in my hand as I smiled widely.

"Aren't you going to open it?" she asked after a few seconds.

"No, she's just going to stare at it all day," Fred said sarcastically.

"Yeah, actually, I think I will just stare at it," I answered swiftly, trying to keep any hints of sarcasm out of my voice. "This wrapping job is incredible."

"Shut up, both of you," Tess muttered, aiming a gentle kick at my foot. "Just open it. I'm fairly certain you'll appreciate what's inside more than how well I wrapped it."

I finally gave in and tore off the wrapping paper first, then the lid of the small box inside it. Once the lid was off, I almost dropped the box onto the grass. "Tess," I said, shaking my head. "I can't."

Fred took the box from me and looked inside. "It's a pair of earrings," he said with a snort. "Don't girls love earrings? What's so special about these?"

I sent him a glare as I snatched the box back. "For your information, Fred Weasley, these belonged to Tess' mother."

"Okay," Fred answered slowly, clearly still trying to figure out what the significance was.

"She died when I was two," Tess finally explained. She didn't look angry, just a bit wistful and sad as she smiled slightly. "Lilah loves those earrings. We kept all of my mother's stuff for a very long time. And even after we started cleaning stuff out, we kept a lot of her jewelry. Dad said it would be mine someday." She smiled wider and nodded towards the earrings. "Except those. Lilah found them when we were about nine. I was showing her some of the stuff that belonged to my mother and she fell in love with them. I told her back then she could have them, but she insisted she couldn't. But I felt that she should have them. My mother had lots of earrings." She smirked. "I think I can manage to part with one pair."

I let out a quiet laugh and stared out across the lake. It was times like these where I felt terrible for complaining about my own mother's faults. Tess didn't have one at all and I did, however scarce she usually made herself. Sometimes it could feel like I didn't have a mother, but I did. She wouldn't let me go near her things with a ten foot pole, but I had her. Tess only got two short years with her own mother.

I looked down at the earrings, still resting in the box in my hands. They were silver, dangly circles with deep red stones in the center. They were probably the most beautiful earrings I had ever seen.

"It's okay with your dad?" I asked Tess, looking up at her and biting my lip.

She nodded. "If it wasn't he wouldn't have sent them!" she said cheerily. "He wants you to have something to remember my mother by too." She paused. "I know neither one of us can actually remember her that well, but Dad always says that she would have loved you and Julian like her own children. If she had known how much you loved those earrings, she would have insisted you have them without giving it a second thought."

I giggled. "Sounds like you."

She grinned. "Dad says I am a lot like her."

"That's a good thing, because you're pretty great. Thanks, Tess, really." I leaned over and gave her a hug before gently closing the earring box and slipping it into my bag.

"Well, now I feel extra bad," Fred said. "I didn't get you a gift and even if I did, it wouldn't have been as good as that. I don't think it can be topped, actually."

"Oh, quiet," I said. "You don't have to get me anything. I mean, we've only known each other two months."

"So?" Fred shrugged. "I'd say we've all grown pretty close in the past two months. We've formed our own little group."

"Your friendship is a present in itself, actually," I replied. "I'm really glad to have you all."

"Stop it, you're making us blush," the twins said, hiding their faces behind their hands as I giggled.

"Have you heard from Julian yet today?" Tess asked suddenly, changing the subject.

"No," I shook my head, "not yet. But he'll write. Dad will, too. And probably Mum. If she doesn't get too busy and forget today's my birthday."

"Does that happen often?" Fred asked in surprise.

I had to laugh at his expression. The prospect of a mother forgetting her child's birthday was so absurd to him. It hadn't happened to me yet either—not exactly anyway—but Mum had missed out on quite a bit in my life. It was impossible for the twins to fully wrap their head around that. I could already tell what their family was like. Big, for one thing. They didn't have a lot of money. But they all loved each other and spent a lot of time together.

"No," I told him. "She's never exactly forgotten my birthday, but….I mean, she tries, but for years she came home late. When I was younger she'd come trick-or-treating and then she stopped and just worked all the time. We'd just have enough time to quickly eat dinner before we all went out—except Mum because she'd bring work home to do."

"This trick-or-treating business was important to you, wasn't it?" George asked. I had explained the concept to him and Fred a few days ago. They had thought it was odd, just like Angelina, Katie and Alicia had. Interesting, but odd.

I nodded and glanced at Tess. "For a while, it was a time when we could all be together. We were all together and all happy."

"Well, I would say we put on costumes and trick-or-treat here," Fred began slowly, "but it's kind of late to put any kind of costume together…and even though Mum and Dad sent us a package with some candy in it last week, there isn't really enough…."

"Oh, Fred, no, I don't expect you to give up your candy. It's yours."

"Lilah," George said thoughtfully, seeming to get another idea from what Fred had said. "This Halloween thing…is it when—well, I mean, do Muggle children dress up as ghosts by putting sheets over their heads and cutting out eye holes?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?" I asked in surprise.

"Dad told me about it once. I don't know how he found out, but he thought it was funny."

"My dad does, too," I said. "He used to laugh every time he saw someone dressed like that because it was so inaccurate." I gazed back up at the castle. "Obviously, ghosts are far from shapeless blobs with eyeholes."

"Well, then I have an idea," George said. He leaned over and whispered something to Fred and they both grinned before George stood up and gestured for us to do the same. "Come on."

Forty-five minutes later, Fred, George, Lee, Tess, Angelina, Katie, Alicia and I were standing in front of the large fruit painting that led to the kitchens. The twins had first led us to the laundry room, which they knew about thanks to their brother Charlie, and raided the clean sheets, taking some that belonged to the Slytherins. We had cut out eyeholes, put the sheets over our heads and then emptied out our schoolbags to use to carry our loot. Then, the twins had led us down to the kitchens, where we now stood.

"Makeshift trick-or-treating," George said proudly. "One stop only, and to the residency of people—or creatures, rather—who won't judge us for carrying out a crazy Muggle tradition."

I giggled. I had to say I was rather impressed by the twins' generous act to carry on my birthday tradition in some way. Mostly, though, I was very grateful. We'd only known each other for a few months, but they'd already picked up how important this had been to me as a kid. They knew they couldn't replace my family, or get back all the years my mother had skipped out, but little did they know, my Hogwarts friends were slowly becoming a sort of family to me.

"Thank you," I said, looking at George, then Fred, through the eyeholes of my sheet. "Even though I will admit we do look ridiculous, I appreciate you thinking of putting this together." I turned to look at the rest of my friends. "And thank you all for coming along. If anyone besides the house-elves see us…I'm sorry for any embarrassment."

I saw Angelina shrug. "No worries. The only way I convinced myself to go along with this was because I knew that if any other students or any teachers saw us, they won't recognize us with these sheets over our heads. As long as we outrun them, we can't be identified."

"Bingo," George said. "That's exactly what Fred and I were thinking. Besides, we're not breaking any rules, really, although I'm sure Snape could find at least one rule we're breaking. All that'll happen if we see anyone is that they'll think we've gone as batty as Lilah."

"Stop it," I insisted. "Why aren't you insulting Tess? She's grown up with this tradition, too."

"Because you're more fun to insult," George shrugged. He paused "Anyway, we could have totally come up with less ridiculous costumes with more time, but these were the easiest and quickest we could get on such short notice."

"It's great," I said. "I've actually never dressed up as a ghost before. I always knew the Muggle representation was a bit inaccurate so I never really wanted to."

"Well, now you have, and it's hilarious," Fred declared, reaching up to tickle the pear in the portrait.

"Excuse me?" I asked as the pear giggled and the portrait swung open.

"I wasn't saying _you _look hilarious," Fred said, stepping into the room. "Not specifically anyway. I just meant that we all look hilarious."

"I figured," I said with a smile, following him into the kitchens.

Almost immediately, a group of house elves came out of the back room, Rosie at the lead, and stopped short when they saw us. Instantly, I felt bad. We had probably terrified the poor things.

"It's me, Rosie," I said quickly, lifting up my sheet so she could see my face. "Fred and George are here, too. And we brought our other friends. Tess, Katie, Angelina, Lee, and Alicia."

"Oh," Rosie said, giggling with relief. "Hello, Miss Lilah." She bowed slightly. "And hello, Mister Fred and Mister George. And hello to all of your other friends." She bowed again. "Rosie wonders why you are all wearing sheets over your head."

"It's Halloween," Tess explained, "and in the Muggle world, children dress up and go trick-or-treating. Meaning that they go around to houses asking for candy."

"I know it sounds weird, but it's really fun," I added. "It was a tradition for me and Tess growing up and since it's my birthday, Fred and George continued it for me."

Rosie, who had been looking at us almost blankly, despite our explanation for our outfits, suddenly brightened significantly. "Oh, Miss Lilah, is it really your birthday?" She clapped her hands excitedly as all of the other house elves smiled excitedly at each other at the news as well.

I nodded and smiled. "It is. I turn twelve today."

"Oh, I wish Rosie had known sooner," Rosie said, "or else Rosie and the other house elves would have baked Miss Lilah a cake."

I smiled wider. For some reason, I found it kind of endearing that the house elves spoke in the third person. "Don't worry about a cake, Rosie," I said dismissively, waving my hand. "Really, I'm sure there will be plenty of delicious food at the feast tonight, thanks to you all. I've heard the Halloween feast is quite impressive."

"What we were really wondering," Fred chimed in, suddenly and quickly, "is if you'd be able to spare some extra candy…or anything extra, really. You know, to complete our trick-or-treating experience."

"Fred, really?" I asked with a sigh, turning to send him a look. Honestly, did he always have to be so blunt? I knew he never intended to be rude, but sometimes that was exactly how he came across.

"I'm just getting to the point," he shrugged. "I'm hungry."

"Of course you are," I responded, turning back to Rosie. "It's only if you can spare anything. If you can't, it's not a big deal. No matter what Fred's implying by his bluntness, we really won't care."

"Speak for yourself," George muttered. I subtly aimed a kick at his shin and he let out a quiet yelp. What a baby. There was no way that could've truly hurt.

"Miss Lilah has no need to worry!" Rosie exclaimed. "There is lots of food for you to take! Miss Lilah and her friends can take whatever they'd like!"

"Just bring us a variety," Fred shrugged. "Surprise us."

Immediately, as if on cue, the house elves gathered behind Rosie scurried off, presumably to retrieve us some food.

"Thanks, Rosie, really," I said kindly.

"Rosie is happy to do something for Miss Lilah on her birthday. Rosie likes Miss Lilah, she does. Miss Lilah is very friendly to us."

"A lot friendlier than these idiots behind me, I expect," I answered with a laugh, jabbing my thumb over my shoulder at Fred and George, who immediately protested.

"Rosie likes Miss Lilah's friends, too!" Rosie said, looking horrified that I would even consider the fact that she didn't. Clearly, my teasing had gone right over her head.

"I was teasing, Rosie," I said, patting her head. "Fred and George, well, they're pretty great, but don't tell them I said so. It'll go to their already big heads."

Rosie smiled briefly and didn't answer. Maybe she didn't know how. She clearly wasn't used to being treated kindly or even joked around with. My heart went out to her, but I felt glad that I could bring at least a little happiness to her by just showing up.

"Just wait here," she instructed us. "Rosie and the others will be back in just a few minutes!" With that, she turned and ran back through the door the other house elves had gone through just a moment or two ago.

I turned back to my friends. "Honestly, thank you for doing this. It means a lot." I gave them a small smile. "And this beats my last birthday by a landslide."

Angelina leaned over and gave me a hug and soon everyone else joined in until we were standing in a huge blob in the middle of the Hogwarts kitchens. A few seconds later, we heard a small voice behind us.

"Ahem, Rosie has returned with what you've asked for."

I broke out of the hug and turned around to see Rosie and a group of seven other house elves, holding bags of not only extra candy, but extra food as well. A variety, just as Fred had asked for.

"Wow, Rosie, you've all outdone yourself," I said. "Honestly, you didn't have to bring so much."

"Again, speak for yourself," George said, taking his bag of food with a huge smile. "Merlin, I'll be eating this for months."

"No you won't," Angelina snorted. "If the way I've seen you eat at meals is any clue you'll have that gone before dinner tonight."

"And still eat plenty when dinner does arrive," Katie added with an eye roll.

"It runs in the family," Fred said, already digging through his own bag, apparently taking inventory. "If you think we're bad, wait until Ron gets here." He looked at Rosie and gave her a tiny smile. "You'll be overworked in here for sure."

Rosie let out a giggle. "Rosie is sure she can handle it," she said.

Fred smiled wider. "Thanks, Rosie, really. You're pretty great."

Rosie let out another high pitched giggle and pulled her ears over her eyes. "Rosie thanks you for saying so, Mr. Fred," she whispered.

"It's just Fred," Fred told her, gently patting her head. "None of this formal business."

"Okay…Fred," Rosie said, peering up at him from beneath one of her ears, a tiny smile on her face.

"Looks like someone has a crush on you," I teased, nudging Fred in the side as Rosie and the other house elves left the room and the rest of us headed over to the tables in the far corner where the twins and I had sat on our first visit here.

"She's a house elf," Fred said, rolling his eyes as he pulled off his sheet completely and let it drag on the floor behind him.

"So, is that a no?" I asked, smiling at him and fighting back a laugh as the rest of us pulled the sheets off our heads as well.

"Shut up, Lilah," Fred responded, gently whacking me with the bag of food Rosie had given him.

"Oi, if I were you, I'd watch out with that or whatever she gave you will be damaged. And I'm not sharing mine if it is," I told him, sticking my nose in the air.

Fred replied by sticking his tongue out me as we all managed to find seats. Once we were sitting, we immediately began examining the contents of our bags and taking inventory.

Lee let out a low whistle. "These house elves sure are generous, aren't they?" he asked. "They don't hold back."

"I love it," Fred said excitedly, reaching into his bag and pulling out a chocolate frog. He ripped it open and discarded the wrapper on the floor as he stuffed the frog in his mouth and examined the card.

"Dumbledore _again_," he exclaimed, his mouth full of chocolate. He tossed the card on the ground beside the wrapper. "I swear, he's got to be the most common card. I get him _all _the time."

"You didn't have to throw him onto the floor, though," I said, getting up to retrieve the trash Fred had discarded. "Have a little more respect than that, Freddie."

Fred shook his head and simply laughed as I threw away the trash and sat back down. "Are you always going to clean up after me? Because I could get used to that if you are."

I scoffed. "Please, you're delusional if you think that."

Fred shrugged. "It was worth a try." With that, he opened his candy bag up again and dug around until he found another chocolate frog. "Anyone want to bet on the odds of getting Dumbledore again?" He waved the chocolate frog in the air. "Anyone? Anyone at all?"

"Five Sickles says it's not," George said immediately.

"Five says it is," Lee argued.

Fred nodded. "Anyone else?"

"No, I'm not going to gamble," Angelina said with a scoff. "But I will get some entertainment out of laughing at whoever loses."

I giggled. "Same here."

"Agreed," Alicia, Katie and Tess said together.

"Alright, here goes, then," Fred said dramatically as he slowly began peeling open the wrapper. At the first opportunity, he brought it up to his eyes and peered inside as he pulled it open a little more. After a second, he looked up at the rest of us and smiled.

"Can you see what card it is?" Lee asked eagerly.

"Who is it?" George asked, just as eagerly.

"It's Newt Scamander," Fred answered. "George wins."

Lee groaned as George leapt up and cheered. When he sat down, he held out his palm to Lee. "Come on, pay up."

"I don't have my money with me," Lee said. "It's up in my trunk."

"Lies," George teased. "You're trying to get out of paying."

"Something tells me you wouldn't let him," I snorted.

"Nope," George answered. "I'm going to keep reminding him until I have my money."

"Of course you are," Lee sighed.

I gave him a pat on the back. "It's okay, Lee," I told him. "Next time, you'll know better than to take bets."

"But they're fun," Fred argued. "Sure, there's a huge chance you'll lose, but there's also a huge chance you'll win. The risk is the fun part."

"Of course, for you it is," I said, rolling my eyes and standing up. "I'm going to go back to the common room," I announced. "And then I'm going to try to get some homework done before the feast."

"Homework on your birthday?" Fred asked as he and the others caught up to me.

I nodded. "I have to keep my grades up. Mum's expecting it." I turned to Tess and gave her a hug seeing as her common room was right down the hall. It was times like these when I did wish we were all in the same house. I hated saying goodbye to Tess while the rest of us all went back to Gryffindor tower. "Thanks for my earrings," I whispered. "I love them and I'm going to cherish them forever."

"I don't doubt that," she said and I could practically hear the smile in her voice. "I'm sure they'll look stunning on you too. I can't wait to see how they look."

I smiled and pulled away before promising to see her later and heading back towards the Gryffindor common room, the others at my heels.

"So, are you having a good birthday so far?" Katie asked as she, Angelina and Alicia fell into step beside me while the boys began comparing their food inventory behind us.

I grinned. "I am, actually. Thank you again, for going along with this. Uncle Jesse did suggest that I could start the tradition of trick-or-treating at Hogwarts, but I laughed, thinking that sounded absurd. But in a way, I kind of managed to do it. I taught six new people about it and they don't think I'm crazy. I'm rather impressed by my success if I do say so myself."

The girls laughed. "Well, we do think it is a little crazy," Angelina said. She held up the sheet in her hand. "And these costumes are definitely odd. But it was still pretty fun in all honesty. And, if you want to know the truth, I'm actually considering doing this again next year. Different costumes, though. I can't take the ghost ones seriously."

"I think they're sort of cute and endearing," Alicia said, holding her sheet up and staring fondly at the haphazard eyeholes she had cut out herself.

"You would," Katie snorted as I laughed.

"_You_ can re-use the costume next year, then," Angelina said. "I'm not."

"You'll have to get creative and think of an awesome new costume then," I told her. "I expect to be blown away."

"You're on," Angelina replied. She glanced behind us. "I don't even have to ask if they're in." She jabbed her thumb at the twins. "As long as they get free food, they're happy. And they have no shame, so they'll walk around in whatever ridiculous costume they can manage to whip up."

"Well, we're sure to get a laugh out of their attempt," I pointed out, looking back at my friends with a smile. "And that's pretty exciting in itself."

"Very true," Angelina agreed with a laugh.

I let out a happy sigh as we continued the walk back to the common room. Maybe this birthday hadn't been exactly like the others I had grown to love at home, and maybe my friends didn't quite get the excitement of trick-or-treating as much as I did, but I had to say that this was probably one of the best birthdays I'd ever had and I couldn't wait to tell my dad and brother all about it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and thank you to everyone who has added this story to their favorites or alerts! It means a lot. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

**And Riversandponds: I forgot to answer your question in the last chapter, but no I didn't purposely write Miss Sullivan with Anne Sullivan in mind, but I did make the connection after I finished the chapter and thought it was a cool coincidence.**


	8. Chapter 8

"This is mental!" I exclaimed, dropping my Potions textbook onto the table in the common room with a loud thud. A few people looked over at me, but I ignored them.

It was the beginning of December and Fred, George and I were lined up on the common room couch in front of the fire. Angelina and Lee were both in arm chairs while Katie and Alicia sprawled on the floor.

"What's mental?" Katie asked absentmindedly as she continued to write out her Charms essay.

"You are," Angelina deadpanned, flipping through her Transfiguration book as she dangled her legs over the side of the armchair.

Katie looked up briefly only to stick her tongue out at Angelina before going back to her homework. "What's going on, Liles?" she asked again.

"Potions is what's going on," I muttered, resting my elbow on my knee and my chin on my hand as I let out a huff. "Fractions. They're back and they're trying harder than ever to kill me."

"Fitzy, you need to calm down," Fred said with a laugh. I shot him a glare at how nonchalant he seemed to be about my suffering. If he wanted to be so relaxed about his own work, that was fine, but I had to keep my grades up. Mum was going to ask for updates once I got home for the Christmas holidays. Knowing her, she'd actually ask to look at all my graded work to check up on me. I was stressed to say the least. I couldn't even manage a smile at Fred's use of his relatively new nickname for me.

He'd been calling me _Fitz_ or _Fitzy_ for about a month and a half now, in addition to Liles and sometimes just Lie. I didn't mind any of the nicknames, actually. Dad and Julian called me Liles, so I was used to it, but no one else called me Fitz or Fitzy except Fred and occasionally George.

"I can't calm down, Fred. Mum wants to make sure I'm getting good marks in all of my classes."

"Which you are," Fred answered calmly. Instead of doing his homework, he was shuffling through his collection of chocolate frog cards. Honestly, how was he not panicking by now? I knew for a fact that he still had homework to finish and he wasn't even doing it!

"All except Potions," I said. "I'm barely passing and my mother is going to murder me unless I bring up my marks in about three weeks. Besides, I don't know how you can be so calm about this. You're not much better than me in this class. It's your worst one as well."

"But I think I am better than you," Fred answered, examining a card with a dried chocolate smudge on it.

"But not by much as I've just said," I shrugged.

"You know, Lie" George piped up, "I could tutor you if you'd like. I'm actually decent at Potions. Fred's the one who's good at Transfiguration and Charms and I'm the opposite."

"I've noticed, actually," I said, "but even the professional tutor my Mum hired couldn't teach me fractions. Thanks for offering though."

"Hold on," Fred laughed, sitting up straight and setting down his cards. "Your mother hired a _professional tutor_?"

"Yeah," I said, looking over at him. "Julian and I had one starting when we were about seven or eight and the deal was that we continue with her until we left for Hogwarts. She basically just taught us all the general stuff we'd have to learn before coming here. Writing, and basic math. Dad was the one who taught us to read. Unfortunately, I never quite mastered fractions and we're obviously supposed to know them already for potions. And Snape isn't going to do a review session anytime soon, that's for sure." I rolled my eyes and looked back at Fred, who was staring at me open-mouthed. "What?" I asked, looking from him to my other friends, who all looked just as surprised as he did. "_What_?" I asked again, raising my chin from my hands.

"You had your own tutor," George said, "that your mother hired."

"Yeah," I said, blushing. "I'm taking it you didn't. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted so surprised. I mean, I didn't think everyone had one, but…." I trailed off and shrugged. "Who taught you guys all that stuff? Your parents?"

"Yeah, in our house it was mostly just my mother," Fred answered. "She taught all of our siblings."

Now it was my turn to blink in surprise. "Your mother taught all of you? All seven of you?"

Fred nodded. "All seven of us."

"Well, some of you must have been really young…I just mean, well, for instance, your older brother…Bill right? When he was, say, nine—"

"Charlie was seven, Percy was three, George and I were a year old, and Mum would be getting pregnant with Ron that year."

"How did she ever manage?" I asked. "Finding things for Charlie and Percy to do, taking care of one year old twins, teaching Bill all that he needed to know…and doing all the other things around the house?" I shook my head at him. "I need to meet your mother because she sounds like a saint."

Fred actually laughed. "She'd love you for saying that and actually appreciating it. Not that we don't appreciate her at home, but apparently she doesn't always seem to think we do." He paused. "We've never had enough money for a tutor if that's what you're wondering though. I mean, Dad's not all that high-up in the ministry, but he does love where he is. With seven kids, though…it gets tough."

"I don't care why you didn't have a tutor," I told him. "I like Miss Sullivan and all, but I'd much rather have had one of my parents teach me." I shrugged. "Mum didn't have time, though. And I don't think she wanted Dad to do it. She wanted it done to her own standard."

"I can't believe your family could even afford a private tutor," Lee snorted. "Do you have a maid, too? Or a house elf or something?"

"Lee, that's a rude question!" Angelina exclaimed.

"Yeah, you can't just ask people those things," Katie chimed in.

"I didn't mean to sound rude or bitter or anything," Lee said sheepishly, glancing at me. "Sorry if it came across that way."

I shook my head. "No, it's okay, I know you weren't trying to be mean. And no, we don't have a maid or a house elf. My dad used to do most of the cleaning when he and my mother were together and Julian and I would help. But then after they got divorced, Julian and I did it ourselves. Now, I don't know what Mum's doing. She actually may have hired someone considering I'm not home during the school year and Julian's been going to my grandparents' house." I shrugged. "I never really minded doing it. It was something to do while we waited for Miss Sullivan to come over."

"It doesn't sound like you ever did much," Fred said, glancing at me.

"Yeah, well we were restricted," I said, almost curtly, "and it was just me and Julian. I don't have a lot of siblings like you do."

Fred nodded and let the subject drop, which I was grateful for. Sometimes talking about my family became too much. I felt like it was hard to explain how we had operated all those years. It was hard to explain my mother and her rules and it was hard to talk about the divorce. My friends' families were all so different from mine. It was easy for them to talk about their families. Why couldn't it have been the same for me? I wasn't embarrassed or anything, don't get me wrong, but things were just different for me growing up and I sometimes felt that my friends didn't quite understand even though they tried to and even though they _were_ accepting.

Amazingly, I had already told my friends a lot about my life. Like I said, my life was different from theirs and they didn't always understand, but they made an attempt and they still liked me for me. Which was why I felt okay releasing that information little by little. But I didn't want to do it all at once for sure. That might just turn out to be a little too much for them to handle.

I had also learned a lot about the lives of my friends in the past three and a half months. For instance, George had broken his nose when he was eight, which explained why there was a bump in it. Apparently, he had fallen off of his broom trying to fly in a loop. According to him, it was kind of awesome, even though he cried (a fact Fred had been all too eager to add). To me, he just sounded lucky that he didn't break anything else besides his nose.

In addition, I learned that Angelina already had a goal of becoming Quidditch captain. She wasn't even on the team yet and she was already aiming for captain. And after that, she was going to play professionally. And if that didn't work out, she was going to become a professor. Of which subject, she wasn't sure yet; she was flexible, apparently. But even so, she had everything all planned out, backup plans included. Angelina's organization skills—about everything—were another thing I had learned about her.

While I did feel very close to all of my new friends already, I felt the closest of all to the twins and Angelina. It had only been a few months, but I already considered them to be three of my best friends. The twins had also formed a close bond with Lee and Katie and Alicia had grown close as well. But, as I've said, we were all fairly close to each other too and had formed our own tight-knit group. I was actually almost dreading the Christmas holidays just because I wouldn't be seeing them. We were all going home for the two weeks we got off, so it wouldn't have made a difference if I had opted to stay at Hogwarts anyway. Not that I would, though. I was excited to see my family and officially tell them everything I could about Hogwarts, my new friends and just how happy I was.

* * *

><p>"So, Liles, who are you going to spend Christmas with?" Angelina asked me halfway through the ride home. We had bought another large stash of candy from the trolley witch and were splitting it amongst ourselves.<p>

"My mother," I said, munching on a cauldron cake. "She has a Christmas party every year and I'm expected to help prepare for it as well as attend and tell all of her co-workers just how amazing I'm doing and make my mother proud," I said, letting out a breath. "I'm just glad Christmas fell on a weekend that I'd be with my mother anyway. If it was my dad's weekend with me and Julian, I'd bet anything that my mother would make us stay with her instead. She'd need our help and I also don't think we're allowed to skip the party."

"Sounds like a boring party already," Fred snorted, digging into a box of Bertie Bott's every flavored beans.

"Oh, you have no idea," I told him. "Julian and I have been attending for as long as I can remember. We were always expected to be picture perfect. One wrong move and we'd have to face my mother's wrath. She's terrifying when she's angry."

"Sounds like our mum," Fred said, gesturing to himself and George. "It's not pretty."

"No, but my mother…not only will she yell, but it's how she says things too…and her wording…and how she'll look at you for days after. As if you've disgraced her just by stealing one chocolate chip cookie before dinner." I paused. "I know this from experience."

Everyone was silent after I finished speaking and I instantly blushed and sunk down lower in my seat. This was why I had never been all that keen on giving anyone any information but the basics. Except things seemed to keep spilling out.

"Was that…too much?" I asked nervously.

"No, it was totally accurate," Tess snorted. She looked around at the others. "Her mother scares _me_ and I'm not even her kid."

"Well, I know you know how she is," I said. "But I don't know if it was too much for anyone else."

"No," Angelina said at once, "it wasn't. It's just…wow. She sounds tough."

"She is," I replied. "I do love her though, I don't want anyone to think I don't. But she's just—we don't have much of a relationship."

Nobody said anything after that. I expect they didn't know how to respond. And oddly, that was okay with me. It didn't make me feel as awkward as I expected. I did worry that I was painting a bad picture of her. That's why I wanted to emphasize that she wasn't all bad. Because she wasn't. Tough, yes. Driven, definitely. Warm and fuzzy, not so much. But maybe that was okay. She _had_ given me and Julian a lot over the years. She provided for us, gave us a place to live, and gave us food, even if it was mostly just the pieces of a meal that Julian and I had to actually put together.

"Is she picking you up from the station?" Katie asked.

"Probably," I nodded.

"Can't wait to meet her, then," Fred said energetically. I assumed he was being a little sarcastic, but I actually couldn't tell for sure.

All too soon, we were pulling into King's Cross and the train was coming to a stop. I sighed as I reached up and pulled my trunk off of the overhead rack and followed my friends off of the train. Alicia, Angelina, Katie and Lee saw their parents almost right away and actually introduced the rest of us to them. We ended up talking for a bit each time before saying goodbye and heading our separate ways.

"Oh, look, there's Mum," Fred said, pointing. "Looks like Percy's already caught up with her. I don't know where Charlie is, though. Probably still with his friends, taking their sweet time."

I gazed towards where Fred was pointing to see a short woman with red hair standing beside Percy and hugging him tightly. There were also a little boy and a little girl next to her, both with red hair, that I assumed to be Ginny and Ron. "What, does everyone in your family have red hair?" I snorted.

Fred nodded. "Yeah, didn't we tell you that?"

I laughed, thinking he was making a joke again, but stopped when I saw the serious look he was giving me. "Hold on, your entire family really does have red hair?"

He nodded and let out a laugh of his own. "Merlin, George, I can't believe we forgot to mention that."

"Well, now you know," George said, grinning at me and Tess.

At that point we had gotten close enough to Mrs. Weasley for her to spot the twins and when she did, she let out a happy squeal and clasped her hands together. The moment they were close enough for her to reach them, she pulled them into a tight hug. I blinked at the scene. I had never gotten that kind of reaction from my mother. Ever. She wasn't the type for squealing, or even hugging really. Maybe it was because I had never thought about it much in the first place, but for some reason, it now struck me as sad and I felt a lump form in my throat, but I managed to swallow it as Mrs. Weasley turned to me and Tess.

"Oh, Percy mentioned in his first letter home that you two had made new friends!" she exclaimed, smiling broadly at me and Tess.

"This is Lilah and Tess," Fred said, gesturing to first me, then Tess. "We made other friends too, but they left with their parents already."

"Lilah and Tess! What beautiful names!" Mrs. Weasley said. And with that, she stepped forward and hugged us both. I was once again taken by surprise. As far as I could remember, I had never been hugged by a woman that I had just met. At least, not this genuinely. "It's lovely to meet you both," she continued as she released us. "I'm Molly Weasley, Fred and George's mother. And this is Ron and Ginny." She gestured to the two children beside her, proving my earlier assumptions correct.

"It's lovely to meet you," I said to Mrs. Weasley before turning to look at Ron and Ginny. Ron was munching on a chocolate frog as he stared at us silently. Ginny, however, was smiling at us. "I've heard a lot about you two from your brothers," I said.

"Yeah, Ron, guess what?" George said. "Lilah has a brother named Julian who's your age. I haven't met him yet, but if he's anything like Lilah, then he's great. Maybe you can sit with him on the train when you finally go to Hogwarts."

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, maybe," he said, finishing his chocolate frog by sticking the rest of it into his mouth.

"I like your bracelet," Ginny told me, pointing to the one my dad had given me. "And yours too," she added, noticing the one Tess had on. "They're the same, but with different stones!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks," Tess said, holding up her wrist. "They're our birthstones."

"Lilah Michelle Fitzgerald," said a familiar voice from behind me. I immediately gasped and spun around to see my dad leaning against a pillar a few feet away, smiling at me. Uncle Jesse was standing beside him, grinning just as widely.

"Dad!" I exclaimed, running towards him and flinging myself into his arms. He caught me and spun me around once before setting me down and holding me at arm's length.

"Merlin's beard," he said, "you've gotten taller in four months, haven't you?"

"Possibly," I answered with a shrug, as I turned to hug Uncle Jesse. "But the important question is what are you doing here? It's not my weekend to stay with you."

"I had to come and see you get off the train. Besides, I was hoping to convince your mother to let me take you and Julian out for a few hours. I know her annual party is tomorrow and I also know you'll be expected to help out every chance you get, but," he shrugged, "I also think you need a bit of a break. So, hopefully," he crossed his fingers, "she'll let you come."

"Doubt it," I sighed, "but it's worth a shot." Suddenly, I perked up. "Come on, I want you to meet my new friends!"

"You made friends!" Dad pretended to wipe tears from his eyes dramatically.

I giggled and grabbed his hand. "Come on."

I led him back to the Weasleys, who were standing where I had left them, greeting Charlie, who had just met up with them as well.

"This is my dad," I told them proudly, when they noticed me standing there again. Tess and Uncle Jesse had also reappeared at our sides and I introduced Uncle Jesse as well.

"It's lovely to meet you both," Mrs. Weasley said, shaking my dad's hand first, then Uncle Jesse's. "I'm Molly Weasley. From what I hear, your daughters have become quite friendly with Fred and George."

"Oh, so these are the same Fred and George you've been writing about in nearly every letter you've sent me!" Dad exclaimed, shaking hands with the twins.

"Dad," I groaned, rolling my eyes and fighting back a smile. It was true that Fred and George usually came up in a lot of my letters, but Dad didn't have to broadcast that fact to almost their whole family.

"These are my sons Charlie, Percy and Ron," Mrs. Weasley continued, "and my daughter, Ginny."

"Great to meet you all," Dad said with his huge trademark grin as he continued to shake everyone's hands.

"Lilah told us that you, er…." George narrowed his eyes in thought as he looked up at the ceiling. "She told us that you're a, uh…a stand-up chameleon!"

Clearly, Dad thought that was hysterical and he obviously couldn't contain himself from letting out a loud laugh. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, but it's actually a stand-up _comedian._"

"Oh, yeah…sorry," George said as his ears turned pink.

"Oh, no need to be sorry," Dad said, brushing off the apology with a wave of his hand. "It was a nice attempt. In fact, if being a stand-up chameleon paid the bills, I most definitely would have become one."

"Somehow I don't doubt that," said a clipped voice from behind us. I turned to see my mother standing there, Julian at her side. She stood there, eyebrows raised, giving Dad a look that said she wished he would shut his mouth and stop _acting like a child_. Clearly, she could still suffer from second hand embarrassment if she wasn't married to him anymore.

I met my brother's eyes right then and grinned as he catapulted himself at me and hugged me so hard, I thought I'd fall right on my back. "Lilah!" he exclaimed. "I missed you!"

"I missed you, too, Jules!" I exclaimed, hugging him back.

"Guess what?" he asked eagerly. "Dad's been reading some of The Tales of Beedle the Bard to me every weekend I go to his house, just like he used to do for both of us…except I don't remember because I was too little."

"That's exciting!" I said with a grin. It was exciting, too and I was glad that Dad was reading to Julian again. He hadn't really gotten the chance to read to us much once he had taught us to read on our own. "Does he still do all the different voices?"

"Of course," Dad scoffed.

"It's never any fun without the voices," Fred said, looking at Julian and smiling. Julian smiled back shyly and I gave him a gentle pat on the back.

I saw Mum roll her eyes just then, which made me mad. I knew for a fact that she loved all of Dad's different voices. When I was little—younger than Julian, even—I can remember Dad making her laugh hysterically as he switched between voices and impersonations. Now, apparently, everything he did was too silly and too childish for her.

"Problem, Joanna?" Dad asked. Clearly, he had noticed Mum's eye roll as well.

"No, of course not," she said, pursing her lips. I fought the urge to sigh. Of course there was. Mum just didn't want to fight in the middle of a train station or in front of the Weasleys, which was a good choice. Now, though, she seemed to have fully registered that the Weasleys were standing there because we had been talking to them and she was looking them up and down.

My stomach clenched and I found myself fighting a scowl as I saw the look of distaste that appeared on her face as she took in the Weasley's clothes, which weren't dirty or anything, but definitely not as put together, as pristine, or as new as my mother's clothes. I saw her take in Ron shoving another chocolate frog into his mouth and purse her lips even more, then frown as she noticed the dirt he had smudged on his cheek. But she seemed to quickly become aware of her expression and it slipped off her face at once, only to be replaced by an overly fake smile.

"I'm Joanna Matthews, Lilah and Julian's mother," she said, her voice way too chipper. She had gone back to her maiden name almost immediately after the divorce, something that seemed to bother me more than it did dad. He had simply shrugged and said that they weren't married anymore, so it didn't matter.

Mrs. Weasley leaned forward and took mum's outstretched hand. I couldn't tell if she actually bought my mother's exaggerated smile and overly chipper, too-friendly voice or if she was just being polite in return, but she smiled widely at my mother.

"Molly Weasley," she said. She turned and started introducing her children and I saw my mother surreptitiously wipe her hand on her skirt. I could have died right there and then.

I looked around to see if any of the Weasleys had noticed what my mother had done, but they didn't appear to, which was a relief. If they had seen, I would've had to run away and never show my face around here again. I'd have to transfer to Beauxbatons or something, which was a shame, considering how much I liked Hogwarts.

"And, last but not least, these are Fred and George," Mrs. Weasley finished, gesturing to the twins. "I'm sure Lilah's told you all about them."

I didn't blame Mrs. Weasley for believing that, especially after Dad had confessed that he knew about them from my letters, but the truth was that I had only mentioned the twins to Mum once or twice in my letters to her. While I had gone into more detail about my friends with Dad, I had only mentioned names to my mother. I'd bet all my money she wouldn't even remember.

"I think Lilah mentioned something," she said with her silly fake smile that proved she didn't actually remember. She just didn't want to look like an idiot. She nodded at Fred and George. "Nice to meet you two."

They smiled at her—genuinely, mind you—before both sticking their hands out for her to shake.

Mum pursed her lips even more as she peered down at their hands. "Yes, well," she said, shaking first Fred's hand, then George's by only the tips of their fingers. "We'd best be going now. I have a lot to do what with the party tomorrow…."

It was then that I noticed Julian now standing slightly behind me, peering out at the Weasleys in interest as if he wanted to say hello, but was too shy. He could be that way sometimes. A little shy until people really got to know him. I knew this because of all the Christmas parties Mum had. It was obvious Julian didn't like socializing with those people and it was obvious that it was harder for him. He never said much unless he was prompted, which usually made Mum later and tell him he needed to engage in more conversation. It was ridiculous.

"Wait," I said now, pulling him so he was standing at my side. I draped an arm around his shoulders and grinned at him. "This is Julian," I said. "He's my little brother and he's nine." I looked at Ron and nudged Julian towards him slightly. "We've told you two about each other already. You're the same age."

Ron and Julian just looked at each other for a moment before Ron asked, through a mouthful of chocolate frog, "Do you collect chocolate frog cards?"

Julian nodded excitedly. "I do, but sometimes it's hard because I have about a million Dumbledore cards and I can never find a Ravenclaw card. She's the last one I need until I have all four of the house founders!"

"Oh, I have a couple of her," Ron said, swallowing his candy. "I can give you one if you want."

"Sure!" Julian exclaimed, any evidence of shyness suddenly gone. "And I can give you a Dumbledore card if you need it."

"Trust me, he doesn't," Fred scoffed. "Everyone has plenty of Dumbledore cards."

"Yeah, and every time Ron here gets one, the whole world knows," George continued.

"Dumbledore _again_!" they both said, imitating Ron almost perfectly as they pretended to toss down a pile of cards.

"Hey, it's not like you two do the same thing or anything," I told them with a smile. "Honestly, I wonder how much poor Dumbledore has ended up on the floor because of you three."

The twins laughed before turning back to Julian. "So, you're the amazing Julian we've heard so much about," Fred said.

Julian nodded exuberantly. "That's me!"

"Fred and George Weasley," the twins said together. "Your sister's newest best friends."

"I thought Tess was her best friend," Julian said, wrinkling his nose as Tess giggled.

"She still is," I told him, "but nobody said you can't have more than one best friend."

"Oh," Julian said, his expression changing to show that he was thinking that over.

"Well, now that we've all met," Mum said hurriedly, clapping her hands together. "I really need to get Lilah and Julian home. We've got a lot to do in order to get ready for the party tomorrow."

"Hold on," Dad spoke up. "I was wondering if I could maybe take them for a few hours today since I won't be able to spend Christmas with them..."

Mum opened her mouth as if to immediately say _no, absolutely not_, before closing it again and glancing at the Weasleys. She put her fake smile back on and looked back at Dad. "I'd love to say yes, Chris, you know that, but I really do need all the help I can get. There are so many guests coming over tomorrow and I've been swamped. Plus, despite it being Christmas, I still have a lot of actual work to do. Just because you get it off doesn't mean we all do."

Dad looked away and I could see that he had stuck his tongue into his cheek and was literally chewing on it a bit as if he were trying not to retaliate. "Fine," he said. "I figured you'd say that, but I thought maybe I'd ask."

Mum simply nodded before smiling at the Weasleys again. "Lovely to have met you," she said. And without really waiting for a reply, she turned to me. "Say good bye to your friends and your father and let's get going," she said. "You too, Julian." I sighed. She was so anxious to leave and part of me thought it wasn't completely because of her Christmas party preparations.

I said goodbye to the Weasleys—Mrs. Weasley gave me another hug to my surprise—before turning to Tess and Uncle Jesse and saying goodbye to them as well. And finally, all that was left was saying goodbye to Dad.

"I'll see you next weekend, okay kiddo?" he asked, pulling me into a huge hug.

"Why can't I see you on Christmas?" I asked. I knew why, but I wanted to ask him anyway in hopes that he would give me a different answer.

"Because you need to stay with your mother," he said. "This weekend is your weekend with her and it's worked out so that you spend every other weekend with me. This isn't my weekend. That's how it is."

"But I don't even get to see my own dad on Christmas," I muttered. "Are you coming to the Christmas party? I don't see why you couldn't be invited. I mean, you're my and Julian's dad. You should be able to come."

Dad half-smiled. "I don't know, Liles. I don't think I'm invited this year. I certainly wasn't last year."

"_I'm _inviting you," I said. I didn't understand why he couldn't just come. It's not like Mum would cause a scene. Not in frontof her work friends at least. But at the same time, she'd be mad that he did show up and get people talking about why he was there if they were divorced. As if they couldn't still be friends or at least civil to each other.

"Let's just plan for spending next weekend together, okay?" Dad asked sympathetically.

I chewed on my lip and looked away. "Fine," I said.

"Lilah," my mother said, even more forcefully than the last time. "Come on. We're leaving right now."

I gave my dad one last hug before turning and jogging over to Julian and my mother, who turned and began walking away before I even reached her.

"Can't you slow down?" I asked breathlessly as I jogged a little faster to keep up.

"No," she answered, her tone clipped. "I have a lot to do and so do you and Julian for that matter. The party is in exactly…" she glanced at her watch, "thirty one and a half hours. We have no time to waste."

I sighed as I glanced at Julian, who rolled his eyes. I smiled. Despite everything that had happened, my mother was still worrying incessantly about this party and I knew that Julian and I would be expected to not only help out, but attend the party and behave perfectly. Make her look good and all that. And also show we were doing just as great, if not better, without my dad in the picture. It was scary how well I knew my mother and how much I understood, even if she didn't think I did. But no matter how much I was kind of dreading the party, I knew that Julian and I had each other and that would be the one thing that would make it manageable.


	9. Chapter 9

"So, how've you been?" I asked Julian. I had given up the fight of trying to keep up with my mother and hung back at the same pace as my brother as we headed out of the station. I threw my arm around his shoulders and pulled him to me. "I swear you've gotten taller. Soon you'll be taller than me!"

Julian smiled. "You noticed! I actually did grow an inch since the summer!"

"A whole inch, wow that's great!"

"Was that sarcasm?" Julian asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Of course not," I told him. "Getting taller is always fun, no matter how much or how little you grew."

We reached the car that Mum had gotten to bring us to the station back in September just then, complete with its own driver. Like I mentioned, Mum doesn't drive and came up with a quick and easy excuse as to why she doesn't in case anyone should ask. Anyone who isn't magical, that is. Anyway, because of all of her promotions, she apparently has enough money to do this now. I mean, I guess it is only a few times a year, because she has her own transportation to get everywhere else, but in order to get to a Muggle train station, well, we need an inconspicuous way to arrive.

The three of us slid into the back seat as the driver put my school things into the trunk of the car. He had hurriedly jumped out and taken them from me and I had been ushered into the car before I could even protest. I honestly could have managed myself. I wasn't trying to be overly independent or grouchy or anything like that. It was just that sometimes I felt the measures my mother took to seem so normal and put together were a little bit over the top and not all that necessary.

"So, Lilah," Mum said, turning to me. "How was your first term at school?"

"Great," I told her with a shrug. I wanted nothing more to start babbling about all the fun I had had over the past few months, but I knew my mother would shut me up right away and tell me to stop babbling or not talk so fast. She'd interrupt me in the middle of whatever I was saying and make me not even want to talk at all anymore.

"What are your grades like so far?" she asked.

"Wonderful, actually," I said, letting out a puff of air. "Potions could still use a little work, though…."

"Why is that?" Mum asked, looking over at me.

"Fractions," I grumbled, not meeting her eye. I never wanted to talk to her about fractions again. It felt like I was somehow bringing up the events of last year all over again, even though she clearly had moved on from it a lot better than I had.

Mum sighed. "Lilah," she said, "how is it that you can still be struggling with fractions?"

I shrugged. "I just am."

"Can't you go to your professor and ask him to help you? If Miss Sullivan couldn't succeed in doing it, maybe Professor…." She looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Snape," I said.

"Maybe Professor Snape could explain it to you so you will. You can't go your whole life without understanding fractions."

I snorted. "Professor Snape would laugh in my face. He expects us to know fractions already so it would be a laughing matter to him if I asked him for help."

"Well, Lilah, you_ should_ know fractions by now," Mum shrugged.

"I'm not stupid just because I don't totally understand them," I said. "Besides, I know the easy stuff. I know a half and a half make a whole and I understand those pie charts Miss Sullivan used to draw, but ask me to multiply and add them and…forget it."

"You're right, you aren't stupid," Mum continued. "Which is why this baffles me."

"I'm not stupid, but I'm not perfect either, Mum," I said, crossing my arms. "Can't we just drop the subject now?"

"Fine, but I expect you to do whatever you have to do to bring that grade up by the end of the year."

"Whatever you say," I muttered under my breath.

"You really shouldn't mumble," my mother said, glancing at her watch for the twelve millionth time in the past five minutes. Any second I was going to just rip it off of her wrist and fling it out the window. She was already driving me insane. "So those two boys," she began after a moment of silence. "They're new friends of yours?" When I looked over at her, she was looking out the window, not at me. I could still see her expression, though. Kind of a mix of exhaustion, irritation and annoyance.

"Yeah," I said. "But then there's also Lee, Katie, Alicia and Angelina. They went with their parents before you showed up."

"What do their parents do?" Mum asked. She tried to make it sound casual, but I knew she was just being nosy and trying to figure out if, to put it bluntly, they were more like us or the Weasleys.

"Lee's dad is a journalist and his mother's a photographer. Katie's parents are both Healers, and so is Angelina's mother. Her dad works at the Ministry. And Alicia's parents own a restaurant in Hogsmeade."

"And what about these Weasleys?" Mum asked. "What do their parents do?"

"Their dad works at the Ministry and—"

"What department?"

I hesitated. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department."

Mum snorted, but before I could start defending the twins' dad, she spoke again. "And what does the mother do?"

"She stays home with her kids."

"How many were there? I wasn't really counting back at the station."

"Seven. Six are still at Hogwarts, but the oldest already left. He's in Egypt, actually. Cool, isn't it?" I turned to her with my eyes bright before I realized just who I was talking to.

"Seven children," Mum repeated, shaking her head. "And with only one parent employed in the department of the Ministry that he is, it's no surprise that they were dressed the way they were. Honestly, if they couldn't afford seven kids, they should have given that decision a second thought."

I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, trying to calm myself down. "They aren't dirty or anything."

"Did you see that dirt on the side of that one boy's face?" Mum scoffed. "It makes me wonder if they even have water to bathe in."

I actually scoffed. "Of course they do. And Ron is a nine year old boy who probably likes to play outside. Just because he's dirty once doesn't mean he's always dirty all the time or that they aren't clean. I heard they have a makeshift Quiddtich pitch behind their house. Maybe that's what he was doing before they came to the station."

Mum snorted again. "How silly. People might see them! Their father of all people should know."

"It's surrounded by trees and they live almost in the middle of nowhere. But even so, the houses over the hills nearby are inhabited by wizards, so it doesn't matter."

"Even still," Mum said. "Clearly they are very careless. And besides, Julian is nine and you don't see him with dirt all over his nose."

"Because it's not like we can play outside much. We can't play Quidditch because someone will see and we can't play with the other kids because we never made friends with them! I get the feeling that they're too snooty anyway, though."

"I just think," Mum continued, "that you should be careful who you let into your circle of friends. I know you're young now, but one day you'll understand. I'm not quite sure that the Weasleys are the kind of people you'd want to get close to."

"Why, because I might get fleas?" I asked bitterly.

"Lilah," Mum snapped, finally turning to face me. "You will not speak to me that way again! I don't know what's gotten into you in the past few years. I did not raise you to sneak out of the house and disobey my orders, and I did not raise you to be the person who talks back to me."

"Or hangs around people like the Weasleys?" I asked in a whisper.

She shrugged. "I'm just trying to give you advice, Lilah. Give it some thought, that's all I'm asking."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to looking out my own window as I watched the scenery fly by.

When we got home, I stepped out of the car and looked up at my house. Then, I looked around me at the other houses on the neighborhood. They all had hints of Christmas decorations up. Strings of lights were visible neatly wrapped around bushes and wreaths hanging on the front doors. And on my house…nothing. It was empty. Odd, considering my mother tried so hard to always fit in and make it look like everything was normal.

We always had Christmas decorations. Every year, we'd put up our own wreath on the door and lights on the bushes, just like our neighbors. Dad and Uncle Jesse would take me, Julian and Tess out to get real trees and we'd bring them back to our houses and decorate them. Last year, even though Dad wasn't living with us, he offered to come help with the decorations for Mum's party. Oddly, she let him. I think it was mostly because she really needed the help. This year, though, the house was empty.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by the driver carrying my trunk and owl cage up to the house. I blinked a few times and looked at Julian who had appeared beside me. "Where are the decorations?" I asked.

"Not here," he said bitterly.

"Why not?" I asked in surprise. "The party's tomorrow."

Julian shrugged. "I couldn't do it alone and Mum's been way too busy."

"I guess we'll be working on those today, then," I said with a sigh. "Although, I don't know where we're going to get a tree."

Julian bit his lip nervously, but I didn't think anything of it at the moment. The two of us headed up to the house and let ourselves inside only to see Mum getting ready to leave again.

"Where are you going?" I asked her as she bustled passed me.

"I have to go into the office for a bit," she said, checking to make sure she had everything. "I left a list on the counter of things I need you to start doing. Try to get them done by the time I get home. Love you both and I'll see you later." With that, she was gone.

I turned to Julian, my mouth hanging open. "Is she serious?" I whispered.

He nodded. "She usually has me cleaning the house and doing chores by myself on the weekends I'm here," he said. "I told you that in a letter, I think."

I nodded. "And I told you that was ridiculous."

"She sort of came to her senses, though," he said. "About a month ago, she started helping out. Sort of anyway. We split it up. She cleans the first floor, I clean the second. Of course, she does her share by magic and usually gets it done pretty quickly. And then she rushes of to work. Usually I'm still cleaning, though because I can't use magic. But I guess even the short amount of time it takes her to clean is too much time in her world because lately she's been talking about getting either our own maid or a house elf."

My eyes grew wide. "A house elf?" I asked shrilly. Julian nodded. I couldn't believe this. I didn't want a maid or a house elf. Like I said, I knew house elves were more than happy to do their jobs, but I didn't want one of my own. Not when I was home and was more than capable of helping Julian with the cleaning. It was a lot, and definitely way too much for one person alone, so having a house elf do it all himself (or herself) was pretty unfair. Like Julian said, Mum could use magic and cleaning would take her no time at all. She just overreacted a lot and everything was always about _work._

"Yeah, a house elf," Julian said. "And…she got a fake tree," he whispered. "But she hasn't had time to put it up yet. I'll bet you anything it's on the list of chores in the kitchen."

"A fake tree? But we always get a real one," I said, sitting down on the bottom step of the stairs.

"I know," Julian said, taking a seat next to me. "That's what made me the saddest. When she told me about it, I got mad, too. I kind of yelled. I said that Dad always got us a real tree and why couldn't he bring us one this year?"

"And she told you to stop being ridiculous, right?"

Julian shrugged. "Yeah, basically."

I frowned and ran my hands through my hair as I let out a sigh. "Well, I suppose we'd better get to work, then. I expect there's a long list waiting for us."

The list certainly was long, just like I had expected. It instructed us to do some light cleaning before starting to put up the decorations. We started on the cleaning first and got to work at once. I tied my hair up before grabbing the vacuum and plugging it in. While I did that, Julian got started on the dusting before we each got started on a bathroom. I did the downstairs one and he did the upstairs. We split the one that adjoined Mum's bedroom and after that, we were finally finished and we could start decorating.

We started with the wreath that hung on the front door before moving on to the outdoor lights. Next was the garland that wrapped around the staircase and the candles in the windows. We put a garland over the fireplace mantle and hung up our stockings. Finally, all that was left was the Christmas tree.

"I guess we should go lug it down from the attic," I said, glancing upwards as I collapsed into a chair, "but I think I need a break first." I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. My hair was falling loose from its ponytail and I was tired and slightly sweaty.

"I don't know how we're going to do that without killing ourselves," Julian said, sitting on the couch. "Bring the tree down here, I mean. It's way heavier and taller than we are."

My shoulders slumped. "I wish Dad was here to help us. He'd make this a lot more fun and cheerful."

Just then, the doorbell rang, sounding loud in the quiet house. My eyes snapped open and I looked at Julian for a split second before we both jumped up and bolted to the front door. I pulled it open to reveal a giant pine tree.

"Merry Christmas!" boomed a jolly voice from behind the branches. "I've made my list and checked it twice and it tells me that Julian and Lilah Fitzgerald are in need of a Christmas tree!"

Julian and I smiled at each other. "Wow, Jules," I said. "We must have been really nice this year in order to get such a special visit.

"Of course you were!" boomed the voice again. "That's what my list tells me!"

I giggled and leaned against the doorframe. "Hi Dad," I said.

Dad stuck his head around the side of the tree, something that took a lot of difficulty considering the size of the tree. It was giant. And absolutely beautiful. Way better than our fake tree.

"How'd you know it was me?" Dad asked with a grin. "My impression of good old Saint Nick is pretty good if I do say so myself."

"Because _good old Saint Nick,_" I began, about to respond with a joke, but then looking at Julian and catching myself, "doesn't leave the North Pole in the daytime," I finished slowly.

"Come on, Liles," Julian answered with a role of his eyes. "I already know the truth about all that."

"When did you find out?" I asked in surprise.

Julian hesitated and I actually saw his face fall. "A month or two ago. Mum told me. I asked her if she thought I'd be brought my own broomstick for Christmas and she must have been stressed at the time because she just…told me."

I stared at him for a second, open mouthed before turning to Dad. "She's ruining his childhood," I said before turning and marching inside.

"Liles…Lilah, come on," Dad said, trying to make his way around the tree, but not succeeding and instead getting a face full of pine needles.

I turned halfway to the kitchen and looked back at him. "What?"

"Help me get this tree inside and we'll talk."

I stayed where I was for a second before returning to the front door. The three of us miraculously managed to fit the giant tree into the house and also somehow managed to get it all the way into the designated Christmas tree spot in the living room: right in front of the giant picture window. Dad and I held it up after that while Julian retrieved the stand with water in it from the bag dad had slung over his shoulder. He put it on the ground and we maneuvered the tree into the stand. Once we were done, we stood back, all panting, and admired our handiwork.

"You did a good job this year, Dad," I said, dusting off my hands. "I swear this one's better than last year. And a little taller too."

"Yeah, it looks good," Dad agreed. "I wouldn't go any taller, though or else when we put the angel on top, it'll hit the ceiling."

I nodded in agreement before silently turning towards the box that contained the lights for the tree. "We're going to need a stepstool to start wrapping these lights around the top." The tree must have been about nine or ten feet tall, too tall for even Dad to comfortably reach the top.

"I'll get it," Julian volunteered.

Once he was gone, I busied myself with untangling the lights while Dad just stared at me. I could tell he was staring, but I ignored him anyway.

"Lilah," he finally said.

"She's ruining Julian's childhood, like I said," I told him angrily. "I mean, she has him shipped off to Grandma and Grandpa's almost every day, where he sits bored out of his mind. Then on Saturdays, he'll stay here and help clean the house. And now she told him, by _snapping_ at him, mind you, that the most magical aspect of Christmas for a kid isn't real! She's changed...even more so since you two split up."

"She's coping," Dad said. "It may not seem like it, but she is."

"I was getting suspicious about the whole thing anyway," Julian said, returning with the stepladder. He plunked it down next to the tree and turned to me. "For one thing, last year, I started realizing that the handwriting on the tags looked a lot like Mum's."

"You're not upset about this?" I asked.

Julian shrugged. "Not really. Like I said, I was getting suspicious. Besides, you'd have had to break the news to me sometime soon anyway. It'd be embarrassing to let it go on for too long."

Dad laughed and I looked at him for a second before laughing myself. "Fine," I said. "You win."

The three of us began decorating the tree just then as Dad explained his last minute plan to bring one over. Apparently, he figured Mum wouldn't be home. Besides that, Julian had told him about the fake tree, and Dad had thought it was as silly as I did. Maybe it was a bit trivial, but I loved having a real tree. I loved the smell of it and just the simple fact that it was a real Christmas tree that we had picked ourselves. Besides, it was slightly different every year, but always beautiful.

"But you've brought us a real tree the past two years," I said. "You don't even get to really enjoy it, so what do you get from this?" I hung an ornament on a branch and glanced at him.

"I get to see you two happy," Dad shrugged. "I know how much you two love having the real tree. Real trees are more magical. Besides, now that I'm not living here anymore, bringing a tree over is an excuse to see you a little more than normal." He smiled at us as he pulled out another ornament and hung it near the top of the tree.

I smiled as I toyed with the ornament in my hand. "I'm glad you came," I whispered.

Dad smiled back. "Me too," he answered.

"What's this?" Julian asked, pulling something out of a box of decorations. I turned to look at what it was and smiled. It was an old, fake sprig of mistletoe. I couldn't even remember the last time we'd hung it up anywhere. It must have been when I was younger than Julian. I could vaguely remember Dad purposely pulling Mum under it and kissing her while she laughed.

"Oh, Merlin, we haven't put that up in ages," Dad laughed, taking it from Julian. "It's mistletoe."

"Gross!" Julian exclaimed, taking a few rapid steps back. "People have kissed under that!"

"Yeah, you're right, it's covered in so many germs and cooties," Dad said, flinging it at me.

I caught it against my stomach as I made a face at him. He responded by making one right back at me. I looked over at Julian and grinned deviously before grabbing the mistletoe and holding it above my head as I chased him around the room. I even catapulted myself over the back of the couch in an attempt to catch him. Finally, I did and wrapped an arm around him as I planted a sloppy, loud kiss on his cheek. "Gotcha!" I said breathlessly before kissing his cheek again and letting him go.

"Gross, Liles!" he said, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand.

I grinned and set the mistletoe down on the coffee table. "Say what you want, but that was fun. Your little kid side was showing. A rare appearance."

"So was yours," Julian replied quietly, smiling at me. "Another rare appearance."

I smiled and reached out to squeeze his hand before turning back to Dad, who was gazing down at an ornament in his hand with a small smile. He held it up when he noticed Julian and I looking at him. "Your mother and I got this for you, Liles, for your first Christmas."

I took the ornament from him. It was a baby's first Christmas ornament in the shape of a red and gold rattle with a number one and my name engraved on it. "This has always been one of my favorites," I said, shaking it slightly. The thing actually made noise like a real rattle would.

"Mine too," Dad said. "The one we gave Julian is another favorite." He winked at Julian, who smiled.

It took us another hour or two to finally finish decorating the tree. Once we were done, we put the decorations back in the attic and I vacuumed again to get rid of all the pine needles that had dropped from the tree on the path to the living room. Once that was all done, Dad told us he had to leave. I wished he didn't. I still wasn't used to the fact that he had to leave again every time he came to visit.

I rushed forward and gave him a hug. "Merry Christmas, Dad," I said.

"Merry Christmas, Lilah," he said. "Before I go, though..." He pulled away and reached into his coat pocket pulling out two flat, square gift wrapped packages. "I wanted to give you two these. Open them on Christmas day, not now. Put them under the tree for now. They'll be the first two presents there."

Julian and I smiled as we took the presents. "Thanks, Dad," Julian said. "Although, I'm guessing it's not a broomstick."

Dad laughed. "No, you got me there. But don't worry, you'll have your own broom before you know it. And I expect you to try out for the Quidditch team on that broom."

"I doubt I'll make it right away," Julian said. "I've lost valuable practice time as it is."

"You'll be at Hogwarts for seven years. Six of them are years where you can try out for Quidditch," I said. "Plenty of chances for you to be able to play for at least a year."

Julian shrugged. "I guess so," he said.

"Besides, my friend Angelina wants to be captain eventually. If she makes it, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you."

Julian smiled. "Thanks for that, Liles."

"Speaking of friends," Dad said, "I really like Fred and George. I'm sure I'd like your other friends, too, but I didn't get the chance to meet them. Unfortunately, they opted to go home instead of getting the chance to be graced with my presence." He grinned and put a hand on his chest dramatically.

I laughed. "You'll meet them eventually. But I'm glad you like the twins. Mum doesn't."

Dad groaned. "Of course not."

"Did you see her wipe her hand on her skirt after she shook Mrs. Weasley's hand?" I asked. "I just about hopped onto the next train out of there!"

Dad chuckled. "I would've had to join you, I'm afraid." He paused. "I normally wouldn't like speaking badly about your mother in front of you, considering she _is_ your mother no matter how _my_ feelings towards her have changed, but even I will admit she could've been a little nicer."

"I'm sure they know she hates them and Fred and George say they still like me, but what if the others think I'm just like her?"

"They couldn't," he said. "Not if they believe anything that the twins most likely told everyone about you. They've spent four months getting to know you for you, Liles. Meeting your mother for five minutes won't change that."

I nodded as I thought that over. I hoped Dad was right and that Mrs. Weasley wasn't telling the twins right that minute how she didn't think it would be best for them to hang around such rude people.

Dad gently pulled me to him and kissed the top of my head before he waved and gave us a smile. A moment later, he had Apparated away with a pop.

"You look disgusting," Julian said a moment later, his voice filling the silence that had followed Dad's departure.

I looked down at myself. I had pine needles and tree sap on my shirt and probably in my hair as well, which was also incredibly messy. I was sweaty from lugging boxes around and I felt like I had rolled around in a pile of dust. I smiled and looked down at my little brother, who looked just as bad as I felt.

"So do you," I told him with a shrug. "You look quite hideous, actually."

He smiled and threw his arm up in the air. "I call first shower!" he yelled quickly before immediately taking off towards the stairs. I heard him slam the door to the bathroom in the upstairs hallway and a second later, the lock clicked. I rolled my eyes. He knew that the upstairs bathroom was the only option for us. The downstairs bathroom didn't have a shower and the one in Mum's room was hers. We weren't really allowed to go in it. It wasn't anything she specifically told us not to do, but it was kind of an unspoken rule. But I actually didn't mind having to wait to get into the bathroom. I was just glad to see Julian start acting like a little boy again instead of trying to be so grown up like he had been doing even more so than normal since the divorce. I liked having my little brother back and hopefully he was back for good.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So I'm not exactly sure how long I'll be spending on each school year. I'm kind of just seeing how things go. I don't want to drag it out but I don't want to rush it either. I'm guessing there will only be a few more chapters for this school year left, though. I hope everyone likes the chapter and thank you to anyone who left a review!**


	10. Chapter 10

"Lilah, you aren't ready yet?" My mother's tone was surprised, anxious and a little annoyed as she stopped in my bedroom doorway to see me sprawled on my bedroom floor, still dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt as I flipped through one of my school textbooks.

I hesitated and stared down at the page in front of me, reading the word _tentacula_ over and over as I thought of what I wanted to say to my mother. Finally, I looked up at her. "No, not yet, because I was hoping you'd be able to help me…you know, maybe you can help me with my hair and paint my nails…or something." I shrugged. I doubted she'd say yes, but it was worth a shot.

Her expression softened for a moment. "I'm sorry, I've already painted my nails." She showed me one of her hands and wiggled her fingers, the ends of which contained five perfectly manicured nails. There wasn't a single smudge anywhere and no polish had gotten on her skin around the nail.

"Yeah, but maybe you can do mine. I always get more nail polish on my hand than on my nail."

"You just need practice is all," Mum said. She paused. "And I'd love to help with your hair, but…." She trailed off and glanced down the hallway. "The caterers might need something and then I'd have to leave. I have to keep an eye on what's going on downstairs. The party is in an hour and...you understand, don't you? You're completely capable of doing a fine job of getting yourself ready," she said. "Unfortunately, there's just too much that I need to tend to downstairs before people start arriving."

"You hired people to take care of most of it," I muttered, going back to my textbook.

"Lilah, please," Mum said. I could picture her hand going to her hip as she gave me a look. "Just make sure you and your brother are both ready and waiting downstairs before guests start arriving."

"Fine," I muttered as she walked away down the hallway, her heels clicking with every step. I pushed myself to my feet and headed for my closet, where I pulled out the new dress Mum had bought me. It was red and knee length and flowy and just…beautiful. I loved it and didn't mind wearing it. I just minded the event I was wearing it to.

I put the dress on and brushed my hair, leaving it straight and putting in a silver headband. Then, I attempted to paint my nails a nice silvery color. My left hand came out okay considering I used my right hand to do it, but when I used my left hand to do my right hand, I got nail polish in spots of my skin around my nail. I sighed and held my hand out in front of me. It wasn't _that_ bad and not that noticeable, especially from far away. I guess it would have to do for now.

When my nails had dried, I left my room and walked across the hallway to Julian's room. "You ready?" I asked, knocking twice.

"Yeah, come in," Julian said from the other side of the door.

I walked inside to see Julian sitting in his desk chair, staring at his reflection in the mirror across the room. He had on nice clothes too, including a tie.

"You look very handsome," I told him, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"I don't think I like wearing ties very much," he said. "I can't really breathe."

"Well, how tight did you tighten it?" I asked with a laugh as I stood up and walked over to him. I pulled his collar back up and started loosening his tie as he protested and fidgeted around. "Stay still," I laughed. "I can't fix it with you moving around. Besides, you better get used to these. You'll be wearing one every day once you start school."

Julian stuck his tongue out at me, but he stopped fidgeting enough for me to finish fixing the tie and pull his collar back down. "Done?" he asked.

"Done," I said. I checked the clock hanging on the wall. "We'd better get downstairs."

Julian glanced at the clock too before nodding. "At least one good thing comes out of this party," he said as we left the room and headed down the stairs.

"What's that?" I asked curiously, unable to think of much good that came from the party. It was boring as most adult parties would be for children.

"There's good food," Julian said with a smile as he patted his stomach. "And I'm hungry."

I laughed. "You actually make a good point."

Just as we reached the last step, the doorbell rang. We looked at each other as Mum bustled past us, fixing her hair. She glanced at us as she reached for the doorknob. "Stand up straight," she reminded us in a whisper. Immediately Julian and I arranged our posture. "And," Mum continued, "don't forget to be polite and _smile_."

I plastered a smile on my face but let it slip once Mum had turned to pull the door open. I glanced at Julian, who looked back at me and sighed. I smiled for real that time and grabbed his hand. "Here we go," I whispered.

He gave my hand a squeeze. "Here we go," he repeated.

* * *

><p>I turned away from another of my mother's friends and made a face as I sighed. Most of these people were nice enough, but I had probably answered the same questions about fifty times. Everyone here was a witch or a wizard, so they all asked me how Hogwarts was going, how my grades were, what my favorite class was…the usual. But this was usually after most of them commented on how positively grown up I was and asking how old I was now.<p>

And then after I had politely answered those questions, a huge smile on my face the whole time, there was an awkward silence before most people I talked to smiled down at me, took a nervous sip of their drink—usually champagne because my mother's parties were always too fancy for butterbeer or firewhiskey—and then made some comment about how wonderful my mother was and/or how wonderful a job she had done putting the party together. I wanted nothing more to let out a snort and list the chores Julian and I had done before pointing out that we also had caterers. Mum actually didn't do all that much except supervise and tell everyone what she wanted done and how to go about doing it. But instead, of course, I smiled and agreed, which led to another awkward silence and usually one of us excusing ourselves.

After I finished talking to Mr. and Mrs. Something-or-other, I managed to sneak back into the kitchen, dodge a few caterers, and slink into the pantry where I closed the door and leaned my head against it as I sighed.

"Rough out there, isn't it?" a voice asked from behind me. I gasped and turned around to see the dim outline of my brother in the dark. He was sitting on the floor, eating from a bag of pretzels.

"Jules, you scared me," I said, sitting down next to him and dusting crumbs off of his shirt. "What are you doing in here?"

"The same thing you're doing in here, I expect," he said with a laugh, sticking two pretzels into his mouth and only making more crumbs.

"Everyone asking you the same questions?" I asked.

"Over and over and over," he said. "And once I answer them, I never know what to say."

"Neither do I so don't worry about it," I told him nonchalantly. I sighed. "But we _should_ get back out there soon, unfortunately, before Mum notices we're gone."

Julian picked up a glass from the ground on his other side and took a drink of what actually looked like milk. "Snuck a glass," he said proudly, lowering it from his face to reveal a milk moustache. Mum usually made us drink water at her parties seeing as we were too young for anything else and milk wasn't "appropriate" for us to drink at parties. It made us seem like little kids, I guess.

"You have a milk moustache," I pointed out. Julian frowned before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Better," I said, standing up. "Now, come on, let's go before Mum figures out we're gone."

Just as Julian was standing up, I saw something moving on the ground. Apparently, he did, too, because he immediately crouched down again. "Bernard!" he gasped.

"You brought your pet hamster down here?" I asked, my eyes going wide. Dad had given Julian the hamster for his birthday in June. Mum had naturally opposed, but Julian promised he would take care of it and keep it in his room at all times and she'd never have to worry about it.

"I needed some kind of company when I was talking to all those people," Julian said, cradling Bernard in his hands.

"Mum will go crazy if she finds out you brought him out of your room—and to her party, no less. Please, Jules, bring him back upstairs before she notices."

"Why? I've kept him in my pocket this whole time and no one's noticed a thing. Besides, he never gets to see the rest of the house."

"He's not seeing it from your pocket either, so what's the difference?" I asked crossing my arms.

Julian was quiet for a moment. "Fine," he eventually muttered. "I'll bring him upstairs."

"You know if it were up to me, I'd let you keep him," I whispered.

"Yeah, yeah," Julian said, pushing open the pantry door and heading through the kitchen. I followed and made sure he was heading for the stairs before I slipped back into the living room. Not even ten seconds later, I heard a shriek and the breaking of glass before the whole house seemed to go silent. I squeezed my eyes shut. _Please don't let that be what I thought it was_, I thought.

"Lilah, there you are," a voice hissed. I opened my eyes to see Tess rushing to my side. "I just got here a few minutes ago and couldn't find you. What was that noise?"

"I have a guess, but I don't want to be right," I said. "Come on." I grabbed her arm and pulled her through the crowd of guests with the same intention as us: getting to the source of the commotion. When we reached the dining room, I saw Julian standing off to the side, holding Bernard, who I was sure I could see shaking from here. A few feet away, a woman was lying on the floor, her drink spilled all over her and the floor—both the wood and the rug placed under the table.

"What happened?" My mother bustled into the room and gasped when she saw the mess. "What's going on?"

"There was a mouse!" the woman on the floor screamed. I glanced up to see Julian attempting to slip Bernard back into his pocket, but my mother apparently saw as well. She pressed her lips into a line so thin that they became almost nonexistent.

"I apologize, Diane," she said, still staring at Julian, who looked back at her in terror. He was practically cowering against the wall. "But it wasn't a mouse. It was my son, Julian's hamster. He's not supposed to let him out of his cage."

There was another moment of silence before Diane actually laughed. "Well, that's a relief," she said, standing up and looking down at her dress, now with a soaking wet circle on the skirt.

Mum took in the stain on Diane's dress as well as the wet floor and carpet before turning to me. "Bring your brother upstairs and see to it that his pet gets put back in its cage at once, please. I'll deal with getting this mess cleaned up."

I looked at her, trying to silently communicate that I wanted her to take it easy on Julian, but she didn't seem to understand. And if she did, she didn't show it. I was afraid she'd yell at him or even worse, say something that made him feel even more upset and guilty than he already did. I didn't want that. I'd had her do that to me plenty of times and it wasn't fun to feel that way.

"Lilah, I meant now," she said sternly.

I nodded and crossed the room to my brother before ushering him out of the room and up the stairs. Once we reached his bedroom, I shut the door and closed my eyes for a second before turning back to Julian, who was silently slipping Bernard back into his cage. Once he had locked the door, he turned towards me, a sad and almost frightened look on his face. "He jumped out of my pocket," he finally whispered.

"Jules, don't worry about it," I said. "It was an accident. You didn't mean it."

"I'm going to be in so much trouble," he muttered.

"No, it'll be okay. She'll be mad for a bit, but it'll blow over."

"Mum being _mad for a bit_ is enough," Julian argued.

I opened my mouth to answer, but before I got the chance, the door flew open to reveal my mother standing there, her lips still set in a thin line and her arms crossed.

"_What_ on Earth do you think you were doing?" she asked angrily. "Bringing that rodent downstairs with a party going on!"

Julian flushed a deep red color and looked at the ground. "I just thought he'd like to get out for a bit. And I could have company…."

"Look at me when you speak, Julian," Mum said. "And you know the rules. Your pet stays here in your room and in his cage. Always. Besides, why would you need company at a party full of people that you know full well you should be socializing with?"

"I did socialize," he said, "but…."

"He's kind of shy sometimes," I spoke up. "He doesn't like talking to all those people. We don't even know half of them! And there are some of them that are so stuffy!"

"Lilah, enough!" Mum snapped. She turned to Julian. "You need to get over this _shy_ business."

I snorted and crossed my arms. "Yeah, just like that. He'll just snap his fingers and—"

"Lilah!" Mum rounded on me, her eyes wide and her jaw set. Any moment, she'd actually start breathing fire. My instincts told me to look away and retreat into the corner, shaking with fear. But I didn't. Maybe it had to do with me sticking up for my brother, but my Mum's anger wasn't scaring me too badly today.

"Look," I told her, speaking calmly, which was actually still a bit difficult. "The mess can be cleaned up, there's no harm done…that woman _laughed_…."

"Of course she's going to laugh _now_," Mum said. "But when she's home, all she'll talk about is the _rodent_ running around at the Christmas party she just went to. She'll talk about how it scared her half to death and she wound up on the floor with champagne all over her! And then she'll talk about how it wasn't a mouse, but the silly pet of the host's child!"

"Of course this ties back to you and how you'll look," I scoffed. "Julian feels terribly! He was afraid of your reaction! That's not how it should be! Can't you just think of him—us—for one moment and—"

"Lilah Michelle Fitzgerald, that is quite enough." Instead of yelling this time, Mum spoke quietly, her voice low and menacing as she glared down at me. "You two know the rules and you know how you're supposed to conduct yourselves. But yet it seems that you two can never do what I ask. Not one hundred percent at least. Julian needs a rat—"

"Hamster," I corrected.

"Whatever," Mum said, waving her hand. "He needs his pet to have courage to talk to people. It's ridiculous, really."

"He's nine!" I said.

"And you," Mum plowed on. "You really aren't setting a good example for your brother at all. He's not going to grow and change for the better. He's only going to get worse. Especially if you continue to let him believe it's okay to misbehave!" She paused. "I thought that once your father was gone, you'd grow up some, but you still aren't up to my standards. You've worsened in some ways, actually. Talking back left and right, letting your grade in Potions slip down to what it is…I honestly don't know what's gotten into you."

I stared at her, open mouthed. I had always thought Julian and I had been forced to act older than we were because of her standards, but did she notice that? Of course not. In her eyes, she simply zeroed in on the things we still did wrong and blew them way out of proportion.

"I think you should go to your room now," Mum whispered. "The party is almost over and I think you've made enough of an appearance. It'll be best for you to lie low now so I can fix the mess that was made." She held open the door and gestured for me to leave first. I did, with a glance back at Julian, who was looking at the ground again, completely miserable. My eyes filled with tears as I hurried back to my room and locked the door. I flung myself down at my desk chair and spun around once as I just let myself have a moment to be angry.

Then, I made the decision that I needed to talk to someone about what had just happened. Or maybe more than one someone. People who would understand and make me laugh. I couldn't talk to Tess because she was still downstairs. I wasn't even allowed to go say goodbye to her. Sighing, I pulled out some paper and beginning a letter to the twins, ranting about what had just happened. Then, I wrote one to dad, saying pretty much the same thing, but with more detail than the one I wrote to the twins. Then, I tied them both to Casper's leg and opened the window.

I rested my elbows on the sill as I watched the owl fly farther and farther away. It was cold outside and even starting to snow a little bit, but I didn't mind. I watched the white flakes flutter around, silently and peacefully. It was odd. It looked so peaceful outside. Peaceful, calm and normal. Definitely not what it was like inside my house.

It was funny, I thought, as I closed my window and changed into my pajamas, that my mother tried so hard to blend in with the people in this neighborhood, but she didn't do as good a job as she thought. She had all the technical stuff down, and to someone simply passing by, we were as normal as could be. But one look behind the closed doors, one could see that we weren't all that normal. Julian and I got yelled at for being too shy or not understanding fractions. We cleaned and put up decorations on our own and tried our very best to behave and do everything she wanted, but it was never good enough. It almost made me wonder if I'd ever be good enough—for my mother or for anyone else.

* * *

><p>"So, how was your holiday besides the big hamster fiasco?" Fred asked. I had met up with my friends on the train and immediately felt a huge sense of relief to be back with them again. Once back at But once again, I felt a twinge of regret at leaving Julian behind.<p>

My brother had knocked on my door a few minutes after I had sent off my letters to Dad and the twins. The second I opened it, he looked up at me with watery eyes and whispered, "You didn't believe what Mum said to you, did you? I love you and I think you're pretty great." In turn, I let out a laugh, shaky from holding back my own tears, and hugged him.

"Of course not," I said. But the truth was that maybe I had let my mother's words get to me. Maybe a little, anyway.

My mother was still angry at both of us the day after the party—Christmas day. That made it ten times worse. We opened presents together, but it wasn't as exciting as it should have been. It was another way I felt robbed of a childhood. I couldn't remember the last time Julian and I had stampeded down the stairs and torn into our gifts. Probably at least three years ago, but I wasn't even sure about that. Mum would always tell us to slow down whenever we did that, so it could have been longer.

"It was fine," I said now, in response to Fred's question. I shrugged one shoulder as I stared down at my hands. "I saw my dad last weekend. And he came over the weekend before that to help us put up decorations, actually. I just wish I got to see him on Christmas day. He gave me and Julian both picture frames, though. They had family pictures in them already. Family pictures with all of us in them. It was a nice idea." There was a pause before I put a smile on my face and looked up at the others. "How was your holiday?"

"It was pretty good," Fred shrugged.

"Come on, I'm sure it was great. You don't have to downplay it because you're afraid of hurting my feelings."

Fred and George looked at each other. "Okay, it was great," George said. "Mum cooked so much food, as she always does and we all got new Weasley sweaters." He gestured to the navy blue sweater with a white G on it. Fred had the same sweater with an F on it.

"Weasley sweaters?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, Mum knits all of us sweaters every single year," Fred said.

"All of you?" I asked in surprise. That was certainly a lot of knitting, even with the aid of magic.

"Every single one of us, even Dad," Fred said. "She even knits one for herself, but I think that's just because Dad told her she should so she wouldn't be left out." He shrugged and smiled.

"Nine sweaters," I said, shaking my head. "Isn't that a lot of work, even by magic?"

"Yeah, it takes her ages," George said with a shrug. "But she loves doing it. She insists, actually, and none of us complain because they're great sweaters. Really warm, too."

"I bet," I said, staring down at my hands. My mother would've thought the sweaters were hideous, but I loved them and a strange part of me wished I had one. Mum always just bought me clothes—I don't think she even knew how to knit, even by magic—and they were never clothes like the Weasleys always wore. They were nice, don't get me wrong, and I did love most of them, but the Weasley sweaters…maybe it had something to do with them being handmade, but there was something special about them that I kind of envied.

"You okay?" Fred asked, nudging my ankle with his foot.

I nodded. "Just thinking."

"Okay," Fred said slowly before brightening as he remembered something. "Hey, I wanted to ask you if you did the History of Magic homework over the holiday."

"Of course I did." I answered.

"That's right," he replied. "I should've known." He gave me a half smile. "Keeping your grades up."

I nodded. "Why are you asking?"

"Can we copy it?" Fred asked sweetly, gesturing to himself and George.

I looked from one pleading face to the other as my mouth spread into a smile and I laughed. "I'll let you copy my notes, not my homework," I finally said.

Fred and George both shrugged. "We'll take that," they said together.

I laughed. "I don't understand why you two can't just take your own notes."

"In History of Magic?" George scoffed. "We're too busy sleeping."

"Yeah, I mean we're passing every subject," Fred added. "Just barely History of Magic and Potions for me and History of Magic and Transfiguration for George, but we are passing."

"Will your parents be mad?" I asked curiously. I knew my mother wouldn't let me barely pass anything. I was already barely passing Potions as it was and my mother was on my case to bring the grade up by the end of the year.

The twins shrugged. "Not mad necessarily, but a little disappointed I guess. Mum more so than Dad."

I nodded. I wasn't really in the mood to talk about grades. It always seemed they were all my mother wanted to talk about. It got tiring after a while.

Once the train reached the station, we made our way up to the castle and towards the common room. I said goodbye to Tess before she headed in the direction of her own common room.

"You look miserable," Fred commented as we approached the Fat Lady's portrait. "I don't like it."

I looked up at him as a giggle escaped my lips. "Sorry," I shrugged.

"Are you still upset about how your mother reacted to the hamster thing?" George asked.

I shrugged again. "Yeah, it's that and I just felt extra bad leaving Julian again. He wasn't himself for the rest of the holiday either and he's not seeing Dad until next week. I'm hoping Dad can cheer him up, but it's a whole week that he'll be spending with my grandparents, doing nothing."

Fred stopped where he was and bit his lip in thought. "Want to help us practice Quidditch?" he asked.

"Don't you do that all the time at home?" I asked.

"Yeah, but we don't have a real pitch. And the only ball we have is an old Quaffle. No Bludgers and no Snitch. And no hoops to throw the Quaffle through. Just trees."

"How is this supposed to cheer me up?" I asked.

"I didn't say it would," Fred said with a smile. "I'm asking you for my and George's personal gain. We need to practice so that we'll make the team for sure next year." He paused. "And I'm also suggesting it in the hopes that getting you out on a broom actually will make you feel better. It works for me and George."

I smiled. "Thanks, Fred." I paused as I deliberated the offer. "And sure, I'll come."

The twins grinned. "Brilliant," they said, before Fred grabbed my arm and we ran the rest of the way to the dorms. We grabbed coats, hats, scarves and gloves and the twins grabbed their brooms before we ran back downstairs and out the doors to the Quidditch pitch.

"I'll get a broom for you to use, Lie," George volunteered as he jogged over to the shed outside of the door to the changing rooms. He pulled at the handle, but the door didn't budge. "It's locked," he muttered. He hesitated a moment before aiming his wand at the lock. "Alohomora!" He tried the door again and it still didn't budge. "Seriously?" he asked. "They charmed it against Alohomora. How protective are they of their brooms."

"It makes sense," I told him. "I mean, they're school property so if someone snuck one out, like we're doing now, and broke one, it's an issue. Or if someone got hurt, or even tampered with one before a match…."

"Well, why did you agree to this?" Fred asked. "If there's a possibility of getting in trouble—"

"Because I'm not going to break or tamper with the broom and I'm not going to get hurt," I said calmly. "No one will ever know I used it."

"And you call _us_ over-confident," Fred muttered.

I gave his arm a shove before walking over to the shed to stand beside George. I pulled a hairpin out of my pocket and began to pick the lock. A moment later it clicked and I pulled the door open and grabbed a broom before closing it again. When I turned around, Fred and George were gaping at me. "What?" I asked casually.

"What was that?" Fred asked, blinking at me a few times.

"An old Muggle trick," I said. "Tess' dad told me how to do it. He used to use it for the same exact reason I just did back when he was at school. All you do is stick the hairpin in the lock and wiggle it around until it opens. Easy, really. Slower than magic, but easy."

"Do you just carry hairpins around for that reason?" Fred asked.

"No, not always. I grabbed one specifically for tonight though. I thought we'd need it. And luckily I have plenty of these lying around." I shrugged. "You know...long hair and all."

"Think we can borrow some?" Fred asked. "One of those pins, I mean. Not some of your hair." He shook his head and looked away as he fought back a laugh.

I giggled. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Fred responded as George nodded.

I shrugged and mounted my broom. "I don't see why not." I handed the one in my hand to Fred. "You might want to use this one to sneak into Madame Hooch's office and get the box with the balls in it. I'm sure she keeps them just as well protected as the brooms." I nodded towards the direction of the changing rooms. Madame Hooch's office wasn't far from them and both could be reached from the outside. "I'll wait here."

Fred took the hairpin from me and let out a laugh of impressed disbelief before grinning and jogging off with George. While I waited for them to return, I kicked off from the ground and flew around the Quidditch pitch a few times. I had been on a broom before, but not very often. Dad would sometimes take me and Julian to a clearing in the woods behind our house and let us take turns using his old broom. Neither of us had one of our own, though. Mum wouldn't allow it. We had to keep it a secret from her that we even flew a broom anywhere near our house. It had to do with her fear of being seen. Which did make sense, but the way I saw it, as long as we were hidden from sight, we were okay and no harm was done.

"Liles, get down here," Fred called from below me.

I flew down to the ground and landed beside the twins, who were carrying a trunk between them which I assumed contained the Quaffle, Snitch and Bludgers.

"We're going to need you to open the trunk and release the Bludgers," George said as he and Fred lowered the trunk to the ground. "Fred and I have had loads of practice using a Quaffle already, as makeshift as it is, but since we'll be trying out to be Beaters, we need practice with the Bludgers."

I nodded. "Got it."

The twins mounted their brooms and flew around the pitch a few times, taking a few practice swings with the borrowed Beater bats as they went. I sat down on the grass and watched them for a bit until I saw them stop in midair. Fred nodded to me and I leaned forward to open the trunk. The moment I did, the Bludgers began fighting against their holds as if they sensed they were about to be let loose. I released them quickly and they shot out at once, flying by on either side of my head and making my hair flutter. I turned to see the twins ducking out of the way as the Bludgers made a beeline for them. Fred actually ended up doing a barrel roll and I laughed as I made myself comfortable on the grass again.

The twins actually did a good job for not having that much Beater practice. Sure, there were times where they missed the Bludgers completely, but they never got hit with one, which was a plus. They even let me have a turn, which was actually pretty fun.

Finally, I happened to glance at my watch and gasp. Dinner would be starting any minute. I called up to the twins, and they flew back down to the ground. The three of us managed to get the Bludgers back into the box fairly quickly. Then, I put away the broom I had borrowed and we headed back to Madame Hooch's office. We slipped the trunk back into the closet in the corner before heading back to the door. When we opened it again, however, we all froze in our tracks. Filch was standing there glaring at us.

"Oh no," I whispered. I could practically hear the simultaneous gulps coming from Fred and George. I wasn't sure how he knew we were here, or if it had just been a coincidence, but it didn't matter. We were all most certainly in trouble and I was most likely about to get my very first detention.


End file.
